The Little Owl & the Big Tree: A Christmas Story

by Jonah Winter, Jeanette Winter (Illustrator)

Overview

One Christmas, a tiny owl stuck in the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree stole the hearts of the nation. Discover the true story in this heartwarming picture book from celebrated mother-son team Jonah and Jeanette Winter.

There once was an owl who lived in a tree. Until one day her home was uprooted and she was taken far away from what she knew. Follow Rockefeller (“Rocky”) the owl as she journeys to the bustling center of New York City and she’s discovered among the branches of the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree. With human kindness and a dash of holiday spirit, can this brave little owl find a new home?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781665902137
Publisher:	Beach Lane Books
Publication date:	10/19/2021
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	422,726
Product dimensions:	9.70(w) x 7.20(h) x 0.50(d)
Lexile:	AD540L (what's this?)
Age Range:	3 Months to 8 Years

About the Author

Jonah Winter is the award-winning author of more than forty nonfiction picture books that promote environmental awareness and social and racial justice. Among them are The Snow Man; The Little Owl & the Big Tree: A Christmas Story; Oil; The Secret Project; Ruth Bader Ginsburg: The Case of R.B.G. vs. Inequality; My Name is James Madison Hemings; Barack; The Founding Fathers!; and Lillian’s Right to Vote, a Jane Addams Children’s Book Award recipient and Kirkus Prize finalist.

Jeanette Winter is a celebrated picture book creator whose acclaimed works include The Snow Man; The Little Owl & the Big Tree: A Christmas Story; Oil; The Secret Project; and Diego, all written by Jonah Winter, and her own Biblioburro: A True Story from Colombia; Nasreen’s Secret School: A True Story from Afghanistan; and Our House Is on Fire: Greta Thunberg’s Call to Save the Planet, which has been translated into twenty-one languages.

Editorial Reviews

09/13/2021

Jonah Winter narrates with quiet respect the journey of the saw-whet owl found in the 2020 Rockefeller Center Christmas tree, starting by describing her at home in the forest: “The owl didn’t have a name—/ and of course she didn’t:/ She was a wild animal.” Jeanette Winter zooms in on the owl in digital art, pulling back to show her tiny form against the great blue-green spruce she calls home. Then, suddenly, her tree is cut down and hauled to New York City on a flatbed truck amid cars that seem toylike, movement and noise signaled with emanata. The owl comes face-to-face with a worker, the bird’s subsequent rescue and convalescence conveyed as a way station before her restoration to her rightful home in nature, “somewhere out under the stars.” With minimum sentimentality, the mother-son collaborators offer an effectively quiet celebration of a wild creature who encounters human civilization. An author’s note offers more details about the true story. Ages up to 8. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

11/01/2021

K-Gr 3—A saw-whet owl is awoken one morning by a man cutting down the tree in which she lives. The tree is carried on a flatbed truck to an unfamiliar city, where the owl is discovered and taken to a wildlife rehabilitation center. Her tree becomes the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree, after which she is named Rockefeller and released back into the wild. The art is striking. Each spread is composed of two rectangular frames on a white background; at times each frame contains a different image, and at other times a single image stretches across both. Close-up illustrations of Rockefeller and her caretakers contrast with wider views in which readers will be delighted to search for the tiny owl. The illustrator makes judicious use of color, relying on cool palettes of purple and green when the owl is in her natural habitat, and pops of red, pink, and orange when she comes into contact with humans. The jarring sounds of tools, the commotion of her trip, and the bustle of the city are punctuated with bright, jagged lines. An author's note at the back provides a bit more detail about the owl and her journey. VERDICT The trademark illustrative style and spare text work in concert to create a warm, gentle holiday story. This would pair nicely with Matt Tavares's Red &Lulu.—Lauren Strohecker, McKinley Elem. Sch., Elkins Park, PA

School Library Journal

2021-08-18
This true story follows a tiny owl whose home becomes the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center.

She is a northern saw-whet owl, a nameless wild animal, so tiny that “it’s doubtful anybody knew she existed.” She sleeps by day and hunts by night, alone and peaceful—until one day the sounds of voices and power tools awaken her. Her tree moves. It shakes. It falls down. It is wrapped, loaded onto a truck, and driven for hours down a noisy highway. When the truck stops, there are new sounds, and when the tree is unwrapped, the owl comes out of her hole, tired and hungry from three days without food. She is found and brought to a wildlife rescue center, where she is nursed back to health. Meanwhile, her tree is decked with lights and put up in New York City. The owl is now famous, and she has been named Rockefeller—but of course she doesn’t know about that. When she is well, she is released into the wild. Jeanette Winter’s signature illustrations center the owl and her natural habitat even as the text straddles the human perspective on the owl’s world in a way that makes each strange to the other. This story poses as many questions as it answers, leaving readers to discuss and wonder at the relation of wilderness to civilization. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

An intriguing episode of colliding worlds. (author's note) (Picture book. 3-8)

Kirkus Reviews