As it’s almost December I think it’s high time to start thinking about Christmas so I’m pleased to be reviewing Pee Wee the Christmas Tree on Linda’s Book Bag today. Pee Wee the Christmas Tree was published on 5th July 2016 and is available for purchase here.

Pee Wee The Christmas Tree

For years, Pee Wee has lived in the shadow of the bigger trees on the Christmas farm. Without enough sunlight to grow tall and strong, he has been forced to watch helplessly as the other bigger and more attractive trees are picked every year, going home with a happy family. Just as Pee Wee is about to give up hope that he will ever get the chance to bring joy to a family during the holiday season, he is finally cut down to be sold!

After years of waiting, Pee Wee is disappointed to find that he is still overlooked by customers wanting fuller trees to  decorate. With his dream of celebrating Christmas with a family of his own fading fast, he is at last discovered by two children who tell their father that they found one that is the perfect size. Driven back to their home and adorned with lights and decorations, Pee Wee is finally able to accomplish his life’s big dream: to make children happy at Christmas!

Pee Wee the Christmas Tree by George Wells is the perfect story for young kids this holiday season, encouraging them to never give up on their own dreams and proving that – large or small – there is room for us all.

My Review of Pee Wee the Christmas Tree

Poor Pee Wee. He’s so much smaller than all the other Christmas trees that he’s always overlooked.

In the interests of honesty and integrity I have to begin by getting some negatives out of the way about Pee Wee the Christmas Tree. There are a couple of editing errors that have crept in to the book that affect the sense of the narrative such as ‘he overlooked once more’ rather than ‘he was overlooked once more’ and ‘though’ for ‘thought’. I would prefer an apostrophe before ’cause’ when it means ‘because’ too. My ex-literacy consultant head struggled with the change from past tense to present and then past again at the end of the book and I always prefer children’s books not to be written entirely in upper case letters as, when we teach writing, we don’t want children to write that way so it’s better to exemplify what we do want.

However, those personal grouches aside, I thought Pee Wee The Christmas Tree was a lovely heartwarming tale with a positive message just right for sharing with children at Christmas. There’s a super message that all of us, no matter what size, have something to offer as Pee Wee makes the family happy at Christmas. There’s much to discuss with children, such as how when we ignore someone we can make them unhappy and lonely so that young children are learning lovely positive messages. I think it’s admirable to teach children that making others happy is the best gift we can have and that we can achieve our dreams no matter how small we are.

The illustrations are an absolute triumph with vibrant, bright colours that children will love. Again, I think there is a great educational value here as it would be good to develop numeracy by counting the presents under Pee Wee when he finally finds a home and the lights strung across him.

Pee Wee The Christmas Tree is a jolly Christmas tale.

You’ll find George Wells on Twitter and more about Pee Wee on Facebook. There are more reviews from these other bloggers too: