THE TREE THAT CAME TO STAY

In her first picture book, the well-known columnist tells a bland but warmhearted story: a nice family with three young children choose their Christmas tree at a farm and happily decorates it together; when the children feel sad about putting the tree out with the trash, Mom comes up with an ingenious way to hold onto its lingering fragrance—a basketful of needles that will keep the gradually diminishing Christmas smell. The events are unexceptional, but narrated with grace and a good sense of childhood's pleasures (though none of its conflicts or frustrations); the soft, realistic color illustrations appealingly depict a snowy, old-fashioned northeastern Christmas. (Picture book. 4-8)