To my surprise and joy, The Christmas Tree by Julie Salamon turned out to be a wonderful Christmas story for tiny tots and older folks alike.Sight unseen, I was expecting a Children’s Picture-Book – equal weightings story and illustrations. While the illustrations in The Christmas Tree are delightful there is only 1 illustration about every 6 pages or 20 pictures in a 118 page book. In addition, the illustrations are only 1/6 or 1/3 of the page at most. However, Julie Webber’s uses a lot of colour for impact and the tiny illustrations pack a lot of punch. They definitely add to the story and give us a sense for the time and place where the story takes place. I would say however that this is not a Picture-Book per se but rather a wonderful holiday story for all ages with pictures that enhance the story but do not share equal weighting with the author’s words as most Picture-Books do. I was definitely not disappointed with The Christmas Tree. It is a delightful story of Anna, orphaned at 5 years of age in New York City, who comes to live with some nuns – an arrangement made be her aunt, her only surviving relative is an nun and working in foreign countries a lot. The convent/manor is in the beautiful New Jersey countryside where Anna makes a new best friend – Tree, a Norway Spruce who is smaller than she is when she arrives. Tree is a wonderful confidante and throughout the years, Anna tells Tree her problems, her dreams, her joys and her stories. They grow up and old together enjoying nature and the great outdoors with its abundance of birds, flowers, other trees, the sun, the clouds and fresh air. Tree becomes a favourite spot for visitors to the convent to sit under – especially the children who come to learn about nature from Anna, now Sister Anthony, and to listen to her wonderful stories.The story is very refreshing. Anna, even as grown up Sister Anthony, has a child like innocence and wonderful joy about her that is contagious. She comes alive on the page and I wanted to listen to her stories in person just like the children did. I could imagine her sparkling eyes and her sense of awe and wonderment. Even the cynical chief gardener of the Rockefeller Centre in New York City who chooses the Christmas tree to be decorated and lit each year (one of the biggest live Christmas trees ever), is impacted by this wonderful nun. The chief gardener is looking for his next Christmas tree for Rockefeller Centre and visits Sister Anthony at the convent because he thinks Tree would be perfect. Sister Anthony agrees with him that Tree has the necessary “character”. This is also something I like about the book – all the trees including Tree and everything else in nature sharing the earth with Sister Anthony are talked about and discussed as if they had their own real energy and life, which of course they do. Unfortunately, people don’t often talk about non humans this way so I thought this made the book particularly special.Sister Anthony however isn’t ready to say goodbye to Tree just yet but the gardener still keeps coming back to visit for the magical spirit and joie de vivre that Sister Anthony shares with them. Sister Anthony’s positive nature has a beneficial impact on everyone who comes in contact with her. Like all great friends, there comes a time when Tree and Sister Anthony (Anna I’m sure to Tree) must part and return to Anna’s childhood home to brighten the lives of even more people than Tree did in New Jersey.The Christmas Tree is a story I would recommend for older children and adults alike. It is a special, touching book that I plan to read again next year. In fact this holiday season, I took the time to read it twice. I liked it that much.
The Christmas Tree is technically a reread for me, although I haven't reviewed it on my blog. I picked this one up because I remembered enjoying the movie adaptation of it. It didn't disappoint. What I like best about this feel-good Christmas story are the flashbacks. The chief gardener for Rockefeller Center narrates Julie Salamon's The Christmas Tree. In his own words, this gardener tells of his search, his on-going, never-ending search for THE tree. If he's not looking for this year's tree, his mind is already on finding NEXT year's tree. The book is about one special tree in particular, one that led to an ongoing friendship.One day the narrator spots THE tree from a helicopter. He learns it's on the property of a convent. He goes. He talks. He asks. He meets Sister Anthony THE nun who will decide if he can have the tree or not. They have more in common than he was expecting certainly. But. She's not ready or willing to part with the tree called, TREE. Sister Anthony is a storyteller. She is. And the narrator turns out to be a good listener. Over several years at least, he keeps coming back to see her, to visit with her and hear her stories. He has things to share as well. Through these sections, readers learn of Anna.In the flashbacks, readers meet a young orphan named Anna who eventually came to be raised at the convent. Her story is very personal, and it reveals her affection, her connection to nature. The young girl as you've probably guessed IS Sister Anthony herself. I loved Anna. I did. Her part in the story is what made it work for me. It was her connection with the tree--in the past and present--that kept me reading.
What do You think about The Christmas Tree (1996)?
Jesse King is the man in charge of finding the Christmas tree for Rockefeller Center. He starts early so that he has plenty of time to get a back up just in case. He finds the tree he wants on the grounds of a beautiful convent. When he goes to make inquiries about the tree he is interested in, he discovers that there is one particular nun that he has to win over. Her name is Sister Anthony. Sister Anthony has a long history with the desired tree Over the span of a fee years he hears the story of how a little girl named Anna comes to live at the convent, how she came to be Sister Anthony and to find out why she has such a strong bond with "Tree". This was a fun story to read. I really liked it.
—Lori Henrich
This book was not great. I loved the illustrations, but I thought the narration was a bit sickeningly sweet. The book spoons up sentimentality and makes you swallow it whole with with lots of adjectives and not a lot of mood setting. I am guessing that Salamon is a better writer than this book might lead you to believe. I am betting her editors had her cut out a lot of character development to make this book fit the "gift book" size. Hey, if it is going to fit in your stocking, it cannot be more than 115 pages! The story itself is fine. It could have been told with a lot more style and completeness. I felt like a lot was left out.Also, it would have been nice if Salamon (and her editors)had taken the opportunity to talk about how important trees are to our ecology and perhaps influence the stewardship of these magnificent creatures among future generations.
—Ellen
This little gem stands out against the backdrop of the (mostly) mediocre Christmas books that are so readily available today. It's the story, told in the first person, of Jesse King, head gardener for the Rockefeller Center. It's his responsibility to find the "perfect" Christmas tree each year to be put on display at the center - a job which has become routine at best. Then he meets Sister Anthony, a little old nun who not only will become a dear friend, but will also have a great impact on his life. This is her story as well.
—Dawn
