The Little Fir Tree Book Review

Deep in the forest, there lived a beautiful little fir tree who longed to see the world. When the tree is taken to town at Christmas, it feels like all his dreams have come true. But what will happen the day after? 

About The Little Fir Tree

Deep in the forest, there lived a beautiful little fir tree who longed to see the world. When the tree is taken to town at Christmas, it feels like all his dreams have come true. But what will happen the day after? Find out in this beautifully illustrated modern retelling of Hans Christian Andersen’s festive tale. 

When he was surrounded by the splendour of nature, the little fir tree could only think about what he wasn’t and what he didn’t have and couldn’t see. After the initial excitement of venturing out, though, he finds that the world isn’t quite what he expected.

As the story of the little fir tree unfolds – brought to enchanting life with the colourful, folk art–inspired artwork of acclaimed author/illustrator Christopher Corr – so does a touching lesson on appreciating what we already have and a hopeful message of rebirth.

Our Thoughts

This is a beautiful story of appreciation and learning to see the world around us. We are often told that we should want more, that what we currently have is not enough and to always strive to be bigger and better. Too often, we don’t stop and appreciate the things we have, the people in our lives and realize how important they are in shaping our present and future.

This beautifully illustrated book, follows a little fir tree as he starts out in the forest wanting to be like the big trees – tall and strong. When he sees them cut down, he is jealous as he thinks they are about to go on a grand adventure around the world (even though he doesn’t even know what things like a cabin or sea is). It takes him a while but finally he too is cut down and starts his own adventure. But he quickly realizes, this adventure isn’t quite what he thought it would be and yearns for his days in the forest.

This book is that gentle reminder for both children and adults to appreciate each and every moment and the people in our lives. Life can change so fast and many times the grass isn’t always greener on the other side. This is a very tough lesson to learn for many people, especially young children who sometimes yearn for what their friends may have.

We should teach our children to live in the moment, appreciate each small thing in their lives and the importance of the people and things in their lives and how this shapes who they are. This isn’t the easiest lesson to teach and having a book helps to illustrate these lessons for them makes this process that much easier.

The illustrations in this book are beautiful – bright and bold, perfect for young readers. The story itself is easy to read out loud to a child and for an older child to read themselves. I loved every aspect of this book and feel it is an excellent read for children from four up to adulthood (because to be honest – this is a good lesson for adults to remember and model for their children).

You can purchase a copy of this book on Amazon and Indigo.

About the Author

CHRISTOPHER CORR is an established author/illustrator whose many books have won him international acclaim. They include The Great Race, A Year Full of Stories, and Deep in the Woods. He studied at the Royal College of Art, and now lives and works in London as an artist and tutor at Goldsmiths University.

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.