From Publishers Weekly
Heedless of Mama's warnings, a Japanese boy cannot resist playing at an ice-cold pond "filled with carp of bright colors." When he comes home, he is immediately treated for a cold, with a hot bath and rice gruel. His mother's attitude chills him more than the weather, though; he cannot understand why she seems to be ignoring him. Hearing a noise in the garden, the boy spies Mama digging up the pine tree that was planted when he was born. She brings it inside and decorates it with paper cranes and candles. It is a Christmas tree, the first for the boy, and the first in many years for his mother, who tells her son she comes from "a warm place called Ca-li-for-ni-a." The story is a poignant one, illuminated with finely drawn illustrations reflecting the serenity of a Japanese home and the quiet love between mother and son. Say ( The Bicycle Man ; El Chino ), who came to this country from Japan when he was a teenager, again exhibits a laudable sensitivity to Eastern and Western cultures--and to both the differences and the similarities between them. Ages 4-8. Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Kirkus Reviews
When the young Japanese narrator comes home with a cold after playing in a forbidden pond, his mother ``barely looks at him'' and puts him into a hot bath and then to bed without so much as a story. She's busy folding silver paper cranes; later, she brings in the little pine planted when the boy was born and decorates it with candles and the cranes, explaining for the first time how she celebrated Christmas in California, where she grew up. The boy is allowed to light the candles, and next day he receives a gift--a kite he especially wanted--for his first Christmas. Say's exquisitely designed illustrations are as elegant as those for The Boy of the Three-Year Nap (1988, Caldecott Honor). Geometric forms in the austere Japanese architecture provide a serene background for softer lines defining the appealing little boy and his pensive mother. As in Say's other books, there is an uncompromising chill here from parent to child: it's true that the boy has disobeyed, that his mother warms and feeds him, and that in the end they share the tree's beauty; still, her longing for ``peace and quiet'' seems exclusionary, and her cold uncommunicativeness while preparing the lovely tree is at odds with its message. Beautiful, honest, but disturbing. (Picture book. 4-8) -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.


Review
"A gift from artist to child that indicates a ripe maturity in both its illustrative and textual elements. Serving as a bridge between American and Japanese cultures, . . . understated and pristine, Tree of Cranes is the achievement of a master in his prime, one of the best picture books of this or any other year."


Review
"A gift from artist to child that indicates a ripe maturity in both its illustrative and textual elements. Serving as a bridge between American and Japanese cultures, . . . understated and pristine, Tree of Cranes is the achievement of a master in his prime, one of the best picture books of this or any other year."


Book Description
As a young Japanese boy recovers from a bad chill, his mother busily folds origami paper into delicate silver cranes in preparation for the boy's very first Christmas.


Card catalog description
A Japanese boy learns of Christmas when his mother decorates a pine tree with paper cranes.

ANNOTATION

A Japanese boy learns of Christmas when his mother decorates a pine tree with paper cranes.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

As a young Japanese boy recovers from a bad chill, his mother busily folds origami paper into delicate silver cranes in preparation for the boy's very first Christmas.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

Heedless of Mama's warnings, a Japanese boy cannot resist playing at an ice-cold pond ``filled with carp of bright colors.'' When he comes home, he is immediately treated for a cold, with a hot bath and rice gruel. His mother's attitude chills him more than the weather, though; he cannot understand why she seems to be ignoring him. Hearing a noise in the garden, the boy spies Mama digging up the pine tree that was planted when he was born. She brings it inside and decorates it with paper cranes and candles. It is a Christmas tree, the first for the boy, and the first in many years for his mother, who tells her son she comes from ``a warm place called Ca-li-for-ni-a.'' The story is a poignant one, illuminated with finely drawn illustrations reflecting the serenity of a Japanese home and the quiet love between mother and son. Say ( The Bicycle Man ; El Chino ), who came to this country from Japan when he was a teenager, again exhibits a laudable sensitivity to Eastern and Western cultures--and to both the differences and the similarities between them. Ages 4-8. (Oct.)

"A gift from artist to child that indicates a ripe maturity in both its illustrative and textual elements. Serving as a bridge between American and Japanese cultures, . . . understated and pristine, Tree of Cranes is the achievement of a master in his prime, one of the best picture books of this or any other year."

Children's Literature - Jan Lieberman