Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews
Christmas Farm
Illustrator: Barry Root
Picture Book
For ages 5 to 7
Harcourt Children's Books, 2008 ISBN: 978-0152162900
Wilma has grown sunflowers and petunias on her farm for years and now she is ready for a change. When Christmas comes around she goes out to her hill and she cuts down the tree that she found and tagged earlier in the year. See her tree standing in her parlor she begins to wonder what people who don't have a hill do to get a Christmas tree and she decided what she would plant on her land instead of flowers.
And so Wilma ordered sixty-two dozen five year old trees. With the help of her neighbor, five year old Parker, Wilma plants and cares for her trees. Together they weed, trim, and watch over the trees. Winters melt into springs, and summers cool into falls. And then, when Parker and the trees are ten years old, the trees are ready to brighten homes for Christmas.
Many city children have no idea where their Christmas trees come from. As they read this gentle lyrical story, children will learn all about how Christmas trees are grown, how many of the trees on the farms don't make it, and how people have to work hard to tend the trees for many years before they are ready to be sold. The watercolor and gouache illustrations have soft luminous color, and they perfectly compliment the expressive text.
