The Tale of The Three Trees

Author: Angela Elwell Hunt

Illustrator: Tim Jonke

Publishing information: (Cook Communications; 1st edition, March 25, 2004, Baby-Preschool)

Number of Pages: 25 pages

Genre: Folktale

Summary of Plot:

            This book was about the dreams of three trees. One day three choppers come to the trees’ mountain, chop them down, and haul them to a site of the wood choppers choice. All three trees start feeling their dream of becoming a beautiful thing is disappearing. The first tree wishes to become a treasure chest, the second, a mighty ship transporting kings, and the third just wanted to stay and point to God.

            At the end of the story all three things get their wishes, though not what they expected. The first tree gets to hold Jesus, as an infant, in a manager; that is the best treasure. The second gets to transport a mighty king in its ship, the Savior. And the third tree points to God as people are reminded what happened on it, the crucifixion. All three trees had their dreams come true.

My Reaction to the book:

            This is one of my favorite Christmas books. We read it every year as a tradition.  Really like the setting. I liked the perspective of it, some tree really became a manager that held baby Jesus, the ship that Christ used, and the cross that Christ was nailed to. I thought it was neat that showed their viewpoint.

Potential Problems:
           Trees don’t have dreams.
           
Recommendations:

This is a great Christmas message. It is pretty short, but really powerful. It captures the meaning of Christmas really well.  I would recommend this story for every family to read together during the Christmas season.