Horn Book Review
In this first full-color edition of the story, Mr. Willowby gets a Christmas tree that's just a shade too tall. The butler trims it and presents the discarded top to the maid, who finds it just a shade too tall . . . . Frolicsome crosshatched, color-tinted cartoons follow the treetop as it's presented, in ever-smaller incarnations, to a family of bears, to foxes, to rabbits, and down to teeny-tiny mice. From HORN BOOK Fall 2001, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Booklist Review
Ages 3^-7. First published in 1963 with ink drawings and green washes, Mr. Willowby's Christmas Tree now reappears in a slightly larger format with full-color washes. The ink drawings are as jaunty as ever, and even more cheerful with their brilliant tints glowing against the white pages. The unchanged, rhyming text tells the tale of a Christmas tree too tall for Mr. Willowby's parlor. The butler whomps off the top and gives it to the maid, who finds even the treetop too tall for her table. So she chops off the top of her little tree, which is retrieved by the gardener--and so on. In the end, the one tall tree has provided smaller Christmas trees for seven homes, from Mr. Willowby's mansion, where Mr. Willowby dozes contentedly in his parlor, to the cozy mouse hole behind Mr. Willowby's chair, where three little mice dance around their tiny tree. Simple, satisfying, and memorable, this old favorite's colorful reappearance gives readers yet another reason to celebrate the season. --Carolyn Phelan
