Book review: ‘The Carpenter’s Gift: A Christmas Tale about the Rockefeller Center Tree’

Posted in Book Reviews
by Lorain County Moms

McClatchy-Tribune

“The Carpenter’s Gift: A Christmas Tale about the Rockefeller Center Tree”
By David Rubel, illustrations by Jim LaMarche
$17.99, Random House

This 48-page picture book written by David Rubel in collaboration with Habitat for Humanity, with illustrations by Jim LaMarche is set during the Depression, and features Henry, an 8-year-old boy whose out-of-work father sells Christmas trees. He gives a leftover tree to construction workers building Rockefeller Center before Henry and his dad go home to their cold and drafty one-room house. The construction workers decide to help them out and give the family a new warm home.

To mark the moment, the boy plants a pinecone and years later, the tree is selected to be the Rockefeller Christmas tree. The cycle is complete when, after Christmas, the wood is used by Habitat for Humanity to build a house for a family in need.

The story teaches a sweet lesson in a touching and interesting way. All of us can use a gentle reminder to give back, especially during Christmas.