The Beautiful Christmas Tree

On a fashionable street lined with brownstones, one home is empty, too run-down for the "fashionable" people to move in. One day, Mr. Crockett moves in and, to the neighbors' astonishment, begins to clean the building himself. In front of each of the more fashionable buildings, there is a lovely tree. Mr. Crockett has none until he goes to a shop to buy a sad little tree (reminiscent of A Charlie Brown Christmas). For a year, he tends the tree carefully and pours out crumbs for the birds while neighbors look upon him with scorn and Christmas carolers pass by his house. However, as Mr. Crockett knows, "beauty is as beauty does." Adults will know the ending without my giving it away here. Children, I imagine, will enjoy the ending without seeing it coming.

On a fashionable street lined with brownstones, one home is empty, too run-down for the "fashionable" people to move in. One day, Mr. Crockett moves in and, to the neighbors' astonishment, begins to clean the building himself. In front of each of the more fashionable buildings, there is a lovely tree. Mr. Crockett has none until he goes to a shop to buy a sad little tree (reminiscent of A Charlie Brown Christmas). For a year, he tends the tree carefully and pours out crumbs for the birds while neighbors look upon him with scorn and Christmas carolers pass by his house. However, as Mr. Crockett knows, "beauty is as beauty does." Adults will know the ending without my giving it away here. Children, I imagine, will enjoy the ending without seeing it coming.

Yan Nascimbene's gentle illustrations bring a fresh new look to a story by Charlotte Zolotow that I have never tired of reading to the children in my life.