Five-year-old Treewing, a fir tree living on Faith Mountain and waiting for his time to become part of the Christmas magic that returns light to humanity every December, is surprised when the Christmas Deer marks him out for a special destiny. The cervine guardian of Christmas normally doesn't choose trees until they are at least six years old, but sure enough, Treewing is harvested and finds his way to a city Christmas tree lot. Here he waits to be bought by a family, thinking in this way to fulfill his purpose. Instead he finds that he is the only tree in the lot not to be purchased, becoming the favorite of a group of local homeless people. Through his miraculous light, Treewing manages to connect a young homeless boy whose father had recently died, serving in the military with the tree-lot owner's son, who also died. By sharing something of great value to both, the boy also participates in bringing back the light...

Although I am familiar with author Dia Calhoun's longer fantasies for middle-grade readers, I wasn't sure quite what to expect from The Return of Light: A Christmas Tale, a brief sixty-seven-page chapter-book I picked up off my library's holiday display almost on a whim. As I was reading it, I was reminded of the recently published The Christmas Eve Tree by Delia Huddy, which also dealt with a Christmas tree that is not purchased, and which becomes a focal point for a group of homeless people, and then part of a celebration involving the wider community. I was conscious, moreover, of a feeling that there was something sentimental about the story, in a way that felt a little too overt for my tastes. All that said, despite these feelings, I was still quite moved by parts of the story, and even got a little teary-eyed from time to time as I was reading. I appreciated the idea of the light returning being a central part of Christmas, as this ties in to part of what makes the celebration of the holiday so powerful, coinciding as it does with the Winter Solstice here in the northern hemisphere. Recommended to anyone looking for beginning chapter-books about Christmas trees and/or the power of giving and light to heal wounded hearts at this time of year. ( )