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Summary
Summary
They put golden tinsel on his branches
And golden bells
And green icicles
And silver stars
And red and green and blue and purple chains of shining Christmas balls.
All alone in an empty field grew a little fir tree. It dreamed of being part of a forest-or part of anything at all. Then one winter day, a man takes the little fir tree away and it finds itself at the center of a little boy's very special celebration.
This treasured story by the legendary Margaret Wise Brown has been newly illustrated by award-winning artist Jim LaMarche. Warm, glowing paintings complement the gentle text to capture the true heart of Christmas.
Author Notes
Margaret Wise Brown was born on May 23, 1910 in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, New York, to Robert Brown, a Vice President at American Manufacturing Company and Maud Brown, a housewife. She attended school in Lausanne, Switzerland for three years, before attending Dana Hall in Wellesley, Massachusetts for two years. In 1928, she began taking classes at Hollis College in Virginia.
In 1935, Brown began working at the Bank Street Cooperative School for student teachers. Two years later, her writing career took off with the publication of "When the Wind Blows." Over the course of fourteen years, Brown wrote over one hundred picture books for children. Some of her best known titles include Goodnight Moon, Big Red Barn and Runaway Bunny.
Margaret Wise Brown died on November 13, 1952 of an embolism following an operation in Nice, France.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Another Christmas gift comes courtesy of Margaret Wise Brown (Goodnight Moon), The Little Fir Tree (first published in 1954 with illustrations by Barbara Cooney) is here given an updated look with artwork by Jim LaMarche (The Rainbabies). Gossamer portraits of a bright-eyed, injured boy and the sapling fir tree that helps him heal are enough to melt readers' hearts. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
For his son who has ""a lame leg,"" a father brings inside a little fir tree for Christmas, returning it to the forest each spring until the following Christmas. One year, though, the tree is decorated in the forest--by the boy, who can now walk. This edition features large, romantic paintings that match the story's sentimental tone. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
LaMarche updates this sentimental story, first published in 1954, with new illustrations showcased through an oversized format and many double-page spreads. The little fir tree of the title was chosen by a kindly father as the special Christmas tree for his disabled young son, a child of three or four with a "lame leg" who "had never left his bed." The tree is brought to the little boy for two Christmases and then returned to the forest to be replanted each spring. The third year, the tree waits to be part of the boy's Christmas again, but this time the boy and his family and friends come out to the forest to celebrate because the boy has learned to walk. The story is rather dated in both its anthropomorphized tree and in its treatment of someone with a disability, although it is made clear through the illustrations that the setting is long ago and far away in a remote mountain village. LaMarche's paintings capture the beauty of the forest and the warmth of friends and family in a cozy, old-fashioned home. Though the little boy is appealing in some illustrations, his age progression is inconsistent in the concluding spreads. Still, this is a lovely way to revisit an old favorite. (Picture book. 3-6) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
K-Gr. 2. In this striking edition of Brown's tender Christmas story, the illustrator of The Elves and the Shoemaker0 (2003) 0 provides lush new paintings to replace Barbara Cooney's 1954 artwork. Although the omission of carol music and lyrics removes the original's sing-along possibilities, the story is unchanged, recounting how a living pine tree is brought indoors each Christmas and how it bears witness to the miraculous healing of a sick little boy. Even if children are confused by the nature of the bedridden boy's "lame leg," which readers in the 1950s probably interpreted as polio, Brown's distinctive, rhythmic storytelling ("Seven times the Summer had droned its hot bee-buzzing days around him. Seven Autumns had whirled their falling leaves\b \b0 and milkweed parachutes past his head") reaffirms her legendary status in children's literature. Casting an equally potent spell are LaMarche's acrylic-and-pencil scenes, evoking the picturesque harmony of a Currier & Ives print. Topped off with a jacket proclaiming "By the author of Goodnight Moon,0 " 0 this lovely treatment guarantees an expanded audience for Brown's seasonal tale. --Jennifer Mattson Copyright 2005 Booklist
