The Magic Christmas Tree

Joanna lived in a cottage by the edge of a great forest, and she had no one to play with. Whenever she felt lonely she used to walk by herself to a clearing deep in the woods, where there stood a pine tree just her size. Joanna liked to pretend the tree was her very own. Now it so happened that a girl named Julie lived on the other side of the forest, and she, too, used to walk by herself in the woods. She played by a pine tree just her size, and pretended it was her very own. It was the same tree, of course, but Julie and Joanna did not meet each other, for they came to the clearing at different times. Then the snows came, and mysterious things began to happen, and Lee Kingman tells how the pine became a magic Christmas tree, and how two seven year old girls found out for themselves the true meaning of the spirit of Christmas. The lovely watercolors of the artist, Bettina, add charm to this unusual story.