A Gorgeous Tale of a Boy and HisTree

Every year, my family embarks upon a quest to secure a Christmas tree for our living room. Maybe we'll get lucky and find the perfect tree on the first try; more likely we'll drive all around town before we finally succeed. It will fill our house with the sweet scent of pine and the warm glow of lights for the rest of the month. But come January, its needles will fall, and the once-majestic tree will be relegated to the curb for an undignified pick-up. Such is the way of things for most Christmas trees.

But in Margaret Wise Brown's The Little Fir Tree, Christmas does not signal an ending for our arboreal protagonist. This spunky sapling dreams of being part of something, having lived in isolation since a brisk wind swept him away from the forest as a seedling. One day, his silent wish is granted when a man arrives, digging him out of the ground and taking him home to be a companion for his lame son. The fir witnesses and partakes in the joys of the season, and when spring approaches, he returns to the field, larger and stronger. Several months later, the man returns, and the scenario repeats itself. The tree and the boy will grow together.

This gentle book is beautifully written, particularly in its descriptions of the seasons. Spring comes "flashing with bees and flowers"; summer "drone[s] its hot bee-buzzing days," autumn skies "whirl their falling leaves and milkweed parachutes". In winter, the season we see most often, "grasses of the fields crackle with the diamond light of ice." But the illustrations are even more stunning, soft and luminous, with paintings by Jim LaMarche, who also provided gorgeous paintings for Bear's First Christmas. The scenes are almost photo-realistic, tinged with a Thomas Kinkade-style glow that accentuates the goodwill of each of the book's characters.

This environmentally friendly tale is a celebration of life, growth and togetherness. Each year, the boy gets a little stronger, the tree gets a little fuller and the group of children who gather and sing the boy's special song - "O Christmas tree, o Christmas tree, your greenest branches live for me" - gets a little bigger. But one year, the kind man with the broad arms and crinkly eyes fails to come for the tree. Has something terrible happened to the boy? Is the tree destined to be lonesome for the rest of his life?

Never fear. The conclusion to this tale is tender without being tragic, and the undercurrent of brotherhood and hope running through the story complements the marvelous illustrations perfectly and makes it one of the loveliest Christmas picture books I've read.