Zee Grows a Tree

When the white Cooper parents, owners of Coopers’ Christmas Tree Farm, welcome daughter Zee, the infant receives a potted Douglas-fir seedling labeled “Zee’s Tree.” In simple prose, Rusch details Zee’s life from birth to age eight, paralleling her yearly milestones with the tree’s, the growth of which is bolstered by the compassionate care the child provides: “When summer arrived, Zee outgrew all her clothes. Zee’s tree grew, too, reaching a foot higher in just one month!” Facts about Douglas-firs, printed in a smaller font, also feature on intermittent pages (“Douglas-firs enter a period of inactivity in the winter called dormancy”). Hillenbrand’s mixed-media illustrations employ a soft, classic picture book style, with dot-eyed human figures in a sweet, friendly palette. Aspiring botanists will welcome this detailed examination of Douglas-firs. Back matter includes an index, holiday tree suggestions, and additional resources. Ages 5–8. (Mar.)