I’m not even sure how this book showed up on my library search for Christmas books, but I’m glad it did, anyway.
Angela Elwell Hunt has retold a traditional folktale called The Tale of Three Trees. It’s a wonderful, little story about 3 trees who had wishes to be great things and ended up each serving Jesus in different ways.
One little tree wished to hold treasure, but instead was made into a feed trough for animals.
The second tree wanted to be the strongest ship to carry kings but instead was made into a small dinghy.
The third tree just wanted people to see itself and think of God, but instead was made into rough logs.
As you can probably guess, each one was disappointed with its lot in life and wondered what had gone wrong. But each one was used for important parts of Jesus life. The feed trough was used to cradle the baby Jesus. The dinghy carried the king Jesus and his disciples when he calmed the storm. The third tree, as a log, held Jesus on the cross and helped people to think of God.
This was a great story to spark some discussion about vocation, and how God transforms us to do great things.
This legend is told simply and beautifully. The illustrations (by Tim Jonke) are definitely unique. I don’t believe I’ve ever seen trees drawn like that in books.
What I like about it is when each tree is given it’s job, it’s not explicitly said, this is Jesus. The kids have to figure that part out. For instance, it simply says:
…a young woman placed her newborn baby in the feed box….and suddently the first tree knew he was holding the greatest treasure in the world.
Highly recommend this story. It’s short enough for younger children, and meaningful enough for olders. Appropriate for Christmas time, Easter, or really throughout the year.
Cloudy with a Chance of Books 