An Ever-green Evergreen Tale: Mr. Willowby's Christmas Tree by Robert Barry

It's Mr. Willowby's tree, but the Christmas tree itself is the star of the Robert Barry's charming holiday classic. First published in a more Spartan format in 1963, Mr. Willowby's Christmas Tree. has been revised with stronger color and a larger format for the children and grandchildren of the Boomers who loved it first.

Prosperous Mr. Willowby intends to have a BIG Christmas tree, and when it arrives, it's a wonder:

Full and fresh and glistening green--
The biggest tree he'd ever seen.

But once the tree stood in its place
Mr. Willowby made a terrible face.

The tree touched the ceiling,
Then bent like a bow.

"Oh, good heavens!" he gasped.
"Something must go!"

Baxter the butler is summoned to trim a section from the top of the tree. Willowby is satisfied, but Baxter has a plan for the discarded tree top. He gallantly presents it to "Miss Adelaide, the upstairs maid." Finding the table top tree just a bit too tall, Miss Adelaide snips the tip and and tosses it out, where it is recycled by Timm, the gardener, who makes a strategic snip, admires his little tree, and discards the tip promptly.

You can see where this one is going. The tip of each discarded top is passed along--from Barnaby Bear to Frisky Fox, and finally to Mrs. Mouse, who decorates it with stars made from cheese and puts the tippy-top of the original tree in the place of honor in her mouse hole in the grand parlor, right in sight of Mr. Willowby's own resplendent tree.

"Oh, wasn't it grand to have a tree,
Exactly like Mr. Willowby?"

There's something in this cumulative tale that is especially appealing to little children. Whether it's the joy of seeing the very grown-up tree cut down to size, the satisfaction of seeing the cast-off treetops being happily recycled, or the ironic pleasure of seeing the tip of the tree come full cycle back to Mr. Willowby's elegant parlor, kids have loved it for nearly half a century. Thanks to Doubleday's improved edition, this story, like Mr. Willowby's tree, has now been reshaped for new generations of Christmas tree lovers.