As a family purchase, set up and decorate their own Christmas tree in this picture-book from author/illustrator Tomie dePaola, the children question their parents about the custom and how it developed, learning many interesting facts along the way. From the medieval antecedents of the practice, in the church plays put on on Adam and Eve Day (Christmas Eve), to the legend involving Martin Luther and the use of lights on the tree, there are many interesting tidbits of information here. The book closes as the family finish with their decorations, and gaze in admiration at their work...

Originally published in 1980 as The Family Christmas Tree Book, and reprinted this year (2019) as Tomie dePaola's Christmas Tree Book, this little picture-book makes an engaging introduction to the history of decorating Christmas trees for the holiday. Having recently read The Queen and the First Christmas Tree: Queen Charlotte's Gift to England, which discusses how its eponymous royal first introduced Christmas trees to England in 1800, I appreciated the fact that dePaola focused on developments in America in his book, in addition to those in Europe. Although popularized in America in the 19th century through the example of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, the custom of decorating a tree for Christmas was actually first observed here in 1747, by German immigrants of the Moravian faith who settled in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

Engaging and informative, this little book would make an excellent first introduction to the history of the Christmas tree for picture-book audiences. Recommended to readers seeking such a book, as well as to Tomie dePaola fans. ( )

This book goes through the history of Christmas booksd. It tells how they got started being decorated and how they became a tradition for the holiday. It explains how it started in the middle ages celebrating Adam and Eve's Day with the tree of paradise. It's an explanatory book that gives history and a lot of information.

Basic history of the tradition of Christmas trees.