Mr. Willowby's Christmas Tree - Robert E. Barry - ★★★★.½

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AUTHOR: Robert E. Barry
GENRE: Children's Picture Book
PUBLICATION DATE: January 1, 1963
RATING: 4.5 stars.


In a Nutshell: A comically sweet Christmas picture book. Lovely story, lovely characters, lovely illustrations. A classic for a reason. Definitely recommended.


Plot Preview:
Mr. Willowby is quite excited that his Christmas tree delivery has finally arrived. Unfortunately, the tree is just a tad too tall for his parlour. He gets his butler to cut off the top so that it fits just right. The butler knows just the right person who would be happy to decorate the tree top in their room, so he passes it to his friend, the maid. She is very excited but the top is just a tad too tall for her room. So she snips off a bit from the top, discards it, and decorates the rest. The broken piece is found by…. Read the book to find out!


I didn’t intend to read a Christmas book beyond the festive season, but c’est la vie. 😁

We all know that Christmas trees are *trimmed* with plenty of wonderful tinsel and decorations. This is a story where a Christmas tree is *trimmed* in its other meaning. 😉 And such a lovely Christmas story it is, hilarious and ridiculous at the same time, while still being full of Christmas joy and wonder!

There seemed to be a bit of magic at work as well, in how the chopped-off tree top seemed to grow just enough in its next owner’s hands so that it could be trimmed and passed off again. It is literally the gift that keeps on giving. I do feel a bit sorry for the tree though. Poor thing went through a lot of trimming!😅

The book has many human and animal characters, and all of them are a joy to behold.

While the story works excellently even if taken at face value, it offers several metaphorical interpretations and life lessons as well, such as finding fresh use for discarded items, donating instead of throwing, planning before purchasing, and finding joy in giving and receiving even small things. While not explicitly mentioned or hinted in the content, I hope it also teaches little readers that a use-and-throw culture isn't environmentally friendly and we need to think more on reduce-reuse-recycle. (I am not a fan of living Christmas trees being sawed just for a few days of materialistic merriment and then discarded.)

The text is written in rhyming prose with all verses having the perfect meter for readalouds. The vocabulary is simple and fun.

The illustrations are as awesome as you would expect from such a magical tale. All the characters are rendered with perfect expressions. The colouring is perfectly Christmassy, with lots of reds, whites, and greens incorporated in the graphics.

Definitely recommended. This would be a wonderful book to read to little ones during the season of Advent.

4.5 stars, rounding up wherever applicable because I don’t want the rating to be trimmed like the tree top. 😁

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