By Mila Vincent | Top photo by Johannah Luza~
Five-year-old critic Mila Vincent loves reviewing books with her grandmother, Johannah Luza. Not only will she tell you what she likes best about the books, but she will also show you what outfit and accessories go best with the book! Right now, Mila is digging deep into holiday books. For Christmas, she is reviewing The Queen and the First Christmas Tree, Queen Charlotte’s Gift to England, sitting at a table with a Yule bough much like the one young Charlotte loved when she was Mila’s age. Mila’s timing is impeccable with Dallas Children’s Theater presenting the author, our Theatrically Speaking columnist Nancy Churnin and her book as part of its new free Pages and Heroes Zoom series Sunday, Dec. 20 at 2 p.m. Register HERE.
The Queen and the First Christmas Tree, Queen Charlotte’s Gift to England
Author: Nancy Churnin
Illustrator: Luisa Uribe
Publisher: Albert Whitman & Company
Mila: I bet nobody knows how people started having Christmas trees. But if you read this book you’ll be really surprised to learn!
When Queen Charlotte of England was a young princess in Germany, she wasn’t like other princesses. She didn’t care about dressing all fancy or going to balls. But she loved going outside and being around beautiful trees. Her favorite tree was an evergreen tree because it smelled so nice. Sometimes she would bring in some boughs of the trees. (That means a branch!) and she put flowers and candles and nuts on them to make them look pretty.
When Princess Charlotte turned 17, her family decided she should marry King George III of England. When my grandma read that part to me, I told her, “I am not going to let my mom and dad tell me who to marry! But that was the olden days, so she married him. Then they had 15 kids! If I had 15 kids, I would tell my husband to take them to the park!
Queen Charlotte was so nice. She loved all children and decided to have a big party for them. So she told her servants to drag a big evergreen tree into their house. That was a funny picture. She decorated it and all the little kids loved it. She started doing this every year and people in America liked the idea so they started doing it too. That’s how the Christmas tree was invented! I get to celebrate Christmas with my other grandma and I can’t wait to tell her this story!
Johannah Luza, Mila’s Grandma: “Queen Charlotte and the First Christmas Tree” is another child’s book that even adults learn from! So interesting to find out how the Christmas tree came about!
