The Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree- TWO FREEBIES!

I am so excited to share a book with you that I just found on Amazon! (How do they know that I need all of these books??? LOL) I’m linking it up with Collaboration Cuties for their Mentor Text Linky!

This book is called The Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree.

Here is the description from Publisher’s Weekly:

The Armistice has been declared, but still there is no sign of Ruthie’s father in their little Appalachian town. So, in accordance with the traditions of Pine Grove, it falls to Ruthie and her mother to bring home the perfect Christmas tree to donate to the town. Ruthie had accompanied her father to the rocky cliff where he marked a tree in the spring, so she and her mother set out to find it again, and haul it home. Their trip becomes the basis — overnight — of a new town legend; Ruthie, chosen for the role of the heavenly angel in the the church Christmas play, finds herself outfitted in a made-over wedding dress of the finest silk — another “miracle” wrought by her hardworking mother. An accomplished, fluid telling garnishes this simple story, as do Cooney’s moonlit paintings of wintry evenings and the welcoming glow of fire and lanterns. Ruthie is more or less an observer; her mother is the real heroine. But the way they work together to keep their family’s duty is rendered in a harmonious blending of text and pictures.

This is such a sweet story of tradition and family. It takes place during World War I, so it’s not exactly aligned with my Social Studies, but it’s such a great story I couldn’t pass up using it. Here is an activity my students will complete with the book: