Charming story of a Syrian family living in post WWII Brooklyn, New York. The title refers to a tale the grandmother tells six-year old Afify and her brother Hanna, about how on Christmas Eve the trees in Syria kneel for the newborn Jesus, and how you can see it if you only have faith enough. Afify decides to see for herself, and plans to visit the park at midnight while everyone is at church.

This author is a winner. I fell in love with her Betsy-Tacy books, but have found other of her works are just as wonderful to read. The children are typical children, and in this particular tale we see a slice of first and second generation immigrants mingling their old world traditions with the new ones of their adopted land. Wonderful read. ( )

Charming Christmas story set in Brooklyn about two Lebanese immigrant children whose grandmother tells them that, in Lebanon, the trees kneel at Christmas. They decide that they would like to see if the trees will do it in Brooklyn as well. Good portrait of post-WWII immigrant life in America; absolutely lovely illustrations. ( )