Jan Lieberman (Children's Literature)
Set in Japan, a boy learns about Christmas from his American-born Japanese mother who explains the essence of Christmas by decorating the small pine tree, planted at the boy's birth, with paper cranes and candles . Japanese life-style is delicately described in the paintings which convey a sense of peace, quiet and love. 1991, Houghton, $17.95. Ages 5 to 8.

CCBC (Cooperative Children's Book Center Choices, 1991)
A Japanese boy "not yet old enough to wear long pants" catches a cold playing at a neighbor's carp pond and is put to bed by his mother after a hot bath. The mother seems unusually preoccupied and even severe as she folds origami figures; she then, inexplicably, digs up and brings inside the little pine tree belonging to her son. As she hangs tiny origami birds on the tree, the mother reminisces about Christmas during her own childhood in warm California, long before she came to Japan and met the boy's father. Two stories about promising and giving overlap in an unusual full-color11 1/4" x 10 1/4" book evoking two past generations, two cultures and traditional early-20th century Japanese domestic life. CCBC categories: Seasons And Celebrations; Picture Books. 1991, Houghton Mifflin, 32 pages, $16.95. Ages 5-7.

Kirkus (Kirkus Reviews, 1991)
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. 1991, Houghton Mifflin, $16.95. Starred Review. © 1991 Kirkus Reviews/VNU eMedia, Inc. All rights reserved.

Stephen Fraser (The Five Owls, November/December 1991 (Vol. 6, No. 2))
All of Allen Say's picture books are characterized by respect for the reader and an inherent appreciation of absence: what is not shown or said is sometimes as eloquent as a more graphic or verbal depiction. Tree of Cranes is a poignant story of remembrance particularly apt for holiday time, narrated by a young boy whose parents come from two different cultures. The mother remembers a time when she first celebrated Christmas in a faraway place called California. While the boy has been sent to bed after catching cold, the mother seems preoccupied. The boy watches as she folds origami cranes out of silver paper, digs up a small tree from outside the house, decorates it with the cranes, and finally to the boy's delight adds real candles. Readers can enjoy this beautiful moment in the accompanying exquisitely detailed illustration. More than a typical Christmas celebration, Tree of Cranes is an appreciative look at the way a holiday celebration is viewed by an outsider. It is not sentimental, but reverential. Underlying the whole story is a warm portrayal of the love between mother and son. The boy watches the tree of cranes being made, and he has a wish come true: what he really wanted as a gift was a samurai kite to fly, and he finds it under the tree the next day. The book closes, "and like the snowman we made, many years have melted away now. But I will always remember that day of peace and quiet. It was my first Christmas." Both on the jacket and inside, the illustrations are elegant and rich. Children will absorb details about the Japanese culture from scrutinizing the pictures: the boy bathes in a wooden hot tub, slides open the inner and outer doors of his family's house, takes his meal on a small tray, and wears traditional Japanese clothing. Say's use of color and ample white space contribute toward the book's overall pleasing design. 1991, Houghton Mifflin, $16.95. Ages 4 to 8.

Horn Book (The Horn Book Guide, 1991)
A simple story of a young Japanese boy's first Christmas. In bed with a chill, the boy watches his mother dig up a small pine tree and decorate it with silver paper cranes and candles. She then tells him about her American childhood and a holiday on which 'strangers smile at one another [and] enemies stop fighting.' The mother's Christmas wish for peace is echoed in the beautiful, pristine illustrations. Category: Fiction. 1991, Houghton, 32pp.. Ages 5 to 9. Rating: 1: Outstanding, noteworthy in style, content, and/or illustration.