Needles, the Forgotten Christmas Tree - Richard Wagner

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AUTHOR: Richard Wagner

ILLUSTRATOR: Sydni Kruger
GENRE: Children's Fiction
RATING: 3.75 stars.

A sweet little story about a little Christmas tree who didn’t give up.

Needles is a Christmas tree who dreams of fulfilling his role during the festive season. Unfortunately, as he is the tiniest tree in the farm, no one seems to want him. Finally, the tree farm owner decides to gift him to an acquaintance’s family and leaves Needles on their doorstep. Unfortunately, this family already has a large tree of their own and Needles is dumped on the curb with the sign, “Free Tree”. What do you think will happen to Needles?

This is a sweet and straightforward story about clinging to your dreams and giving them your best shot. Needles’s attitude of not giving up even when faced with despair comes out well.

There is a lot of text on each page, but the vocabulary level is quite manageable for early readers. It would work well for the 5-8 age range for independent reading, and even for younger kids as a read-aloud.

The illustrations are cute, though a part of me would have been happier to see Needles somewhat anthropomorphised. As every page contains his emotions, it feel somewhat distancing to see him sketched just as a tree with no expressions.

Overall, a sweet enough read for Christmas time.

The book is available to Kindle Unlimited subscribers for free.

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