The Biggest Christmas Tree Ever

Mouseville

by Steven Kroll, Jeni Bassett (Illustrator)

Once there were two mice who fell in love with the same Christmas tree, but you had to see it to believe it!

Genres: Christmas, Picture Books, Childrens, Holiday, Animals, Friendship, Fiction

28 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Stephen Kroll spoke at schools and conferences all over the world. He was married to the journalist, Kathleen Beckett, and they lived in New York City and an old carriage house in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. When he was not writing or traveling, he played a lot of tennis and walked around looking at everything.

Reviews

[Kenny · Rating 3 out of 5]

A cute if slight book on family and friendship and working together.

[Andrea · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't really like this. I found the story to be too all over the place. It wasn't interesting and I thought it was really unrealistic and repetitive. Not a good story.

There were so many characters. I'm all for a book naming the characters because it's really weird to read a book about animals or people who have no names, but this had too many. Clayton, a house mouse, and Desmond, a field mouse. Clayton has parents, a brother named Andy, and a sister named Trudy. Desmond has an Uncle Vernon and brother Morris. I don't know why he went to the trouble of naming all these siblings who never came back into the story and whose names were never used again. Unnecessary? I'm going to say so.

It was so weird, because it started out at Christmas but then all of a sudden it went back to Thanksgiving. I can't stand when you get a holiday book and another holiday is featured. If you want to do Thanksgiving, do a Thanksgiving book.

So then yet more characters were introduced. Clayton's grandparents. Desmond also had Thanksgiving dinner with 2 cousins. Clayton and Desmond were acting out the exact same lives, situations, and conversations, another annoyance for me. I got irritated that we were expected to believe that they were saying the exact same lines, being told the same things, and wanting the same things. It's too much. I don't know what the significance was for them being different kinds of mice. I guess to show they lead the exact same lives from the city to the country..?

I didn't understand why all mice are trying to get the biggest Christmas tree they can. How is that possible that there are only big trees and no one's buying the small ones? It's like an impossible thing to have all of them go and get big trees.

For some reason the author decided to have them stuffed from Thanksgiving dinner, because they both went looking for trees the day after Thanksgiving. They were both full and left early after not giving the right tree, and they went back to bed. From a plot POV, Idk why this would be done. It's just wasting time no reason and prolonging the search. It was pointless.

They both had their family members tell them where the biggest trees were. Idk how they wouldn't find them on their own. They found the biggest tree at the same time and immediately decided to share. Okayy. They knew they couldn't get it alone so they got their families to help cut and transport it.

He said they put the tree at Clayton's, the house mouse, house, but they showed the gigantic tree on the top of a hill, with no house in sight. Why not put it at the field mouse's house where there's room? And that house is not the landscape the earlier illustration showed with a rock wall. This was a grassy hill where no house could be...so yeah, that didn't add up.

The illustrations were the best part about it. They were cute, simply and not that detailed, but colorful and cute and sweet. It was just a weird, confusing story with a weak plot and there's really no point in reading it.

[Donna Mork · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute mirror book, where two mice are doing the same thing, separately. They find a huge tree, but need the help of family and friends. With everyone helping, they have the best tree ever.

[Nhi Nguyễn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun little story about two mice all looking for the biggest Christmas tree. It is great to be enjoyed during Christmas. Young kids will love it.

[Robin Coomer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like books that show teamwork and community for kids and this book has it.

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Two young mice are tasked with finding the perfect Christmas tree for their families. This short board book follows Clayton and Desmond as they look for just the right tree. Although their experiences and goals are the same, their journeys are individual, and they aren't successful at first. Only when they stumble upon one another and join forces do they find an enormous tree. But it's too big even for them to cut down and haul home so they need to get some help from their families. The book's message of working together is clear, supported by questions and activities that can be shared with others. The softly-colored illustrations have plenty of child-appeal as it's easy to tell that eventually their paths will cross while on their mission. Many parts of the story will be relatable to youngers; for instance, who hasn't found his/her tummy too stuffed after a big Thanksgiving dinner to move very fast?

[Elaine · Rating 1 out of 5]

Two mice operate under the unexamined assumption that the biggest Christmas tree is the best. When they do find what they believe, without proof, is the biggest Christmas-type fir ever, they cut it down and everyone in town feels good about it. This book was published in 2009 and sorely needs updating or -- better yet -- overhauling.

As for the illustrations, the mice's faces are mostly shown in profile, thus missing an important opportunity to allow the characters to make a connection (i.e. eye contact) with the reader. I didn't feel particularly connected to the protagonists or their journeys, and actually couldn't tell one mouse from the other even by the book's end.

[Mariya Dawson · Rating 5 out of 5]

The setting is Mouse-Ville where everyone is a mouse. Clayton and Desmond both have the thought that they want to find the biggest Christmas tree ever this year for Christmas. They celebrate thanksgiving dinner and the next morning they are both the first two mice to arrive at the tree place to get the biggest tree. They both have no luck finding the right tree until later they both come across a giant tree and decide to cut it down together and with their families and put it up for the rest of the town.

[Naomi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I keep finding out there are more of these "The Biggest" whatever books out there. I enjoy them, although I do believe both my kiddos and I are almost to "outgrow" them. But they're fun to go back to when you're in the mood and like a familiar storyline.

[Nicole Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Exceptionally cute Christmas book about working together and sharing. I’m a sucker for anything where the characters are cute little mice.

“Once there were two mice who fell in love with the same Christmas tree, but you had to see it to believe it”

[Tiffany · Rating 2 out of 5]

Two mice do exactly the same thing for 19 pages, hoping to find the biggest Christmas tree ever. Then they decide to work together, getting their family to help cut down and decorate the tree. The artwork was cute, which is why I gave it 2 stars, but it was a bit disappointing.

[Jessica Hembree · Rating 3 out of 5]

Two mice look for the biggest Christmas tree ever!
Each year, my family wraps our collection of Christmas and winter books so that we can randomly select one each night to read aloud as a family. This was today’s book.

[Jackie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sharing is part of Christmas and these two mice find the perfect way to show it.

[Vishualee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Festivity brings everyone together.

[Melissa Namba · Rating 5 out of 5]

I LOVED that instead of having a conflict between the characters, they immediately WANTED to work together and spread the joy. I am definitely sending this one to the nieces.

[Liz Lowe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sweet book about two mice working together (and eventually the whole town too) to find the biggest tree, then celebrate together.

[Sid · Rating 3 out of 5]

#XmasTree
#friendship
#reunion

[Meredith · Rating 2 out of 5]

Two young mice share the aspiration of finding the biggest Christmas tree ever.

[Brianna Wheelock]

This is a good read aloud during the holidays. It can be used to have students write about their own traditions during the holidays.

[Heather Hansen · Rating 2 out of 5]

it was a cute idea.

[Angie and the Daily Book Dose · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book about RODENTS! ❤️❤️❤️

[Brian · Rating 2 out of 5]

Surprisingly dense.

[Carina · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book came along as part of a Scholastic book set to count down to Christmas.

[Zazie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I can see why a child would enjoy this book. I, however, did not enjoy it as much as they would.

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun Christmas season read, all the kids loved it.

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

How did they light the tree since it isn't near an outlet?

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too long, and kinda quaint for current children's lit.

[Jenna Montgomery · Rating 3 out of 5]

Two mice who both have the same goal team up to make their dream possible.

[shereallyreadsss · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super cute!!☺️💖

[Jimmy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Let the tree live!!!