‘How to Decorate a Christmas Tree’ is an inspirational holiday book with a little girl named Della telling her baby brother step by step how to decorate their tree. She describes the process and gives the meaning behind each ornament and how it came to be. This is the perfect book for children in the age range of 4-8 years old and the illustrations are phenomenal! I highly recommend to librarians, teachers, parents and caregivers of young children!

This was a delightful book that will get you in the Christmas spirit! The illustrations are amazing and engaging for young readers. This would be a good story for home or in a classroom.
Many thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for a complimentary copy of the book. The opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

My favorite part of this book was how the main character told the story of some of her family's Christmas tree ornaments. I think the art will engage young readers, who will find a lot to look at while reading this. I would recommend this book for patrons looking for children's books about Christmas. It will also appeal to families looking for stories about new siblings.

A tiny nitpick - the text says that the ornaments with the children's names had their names and birthdates on them, but only the names are shown. Maybe the birthdate is on the back of the ornament and it's just not illustrated, but if that's the case, it would have been better to leave out the comment about the birthdates. It makes it seem like something is missing.

Well wasn't this the cutest little book! This will be a great book to give my nieces and nephews at the beginning of December for them to enjoy before they decorate their Christmas tree. I loved how the cat was always messing with the stuff. That's a true cat right there! Made me laugh!

This is a cute Christmas story about the importance of tradition in the form of decorating a Christmas tree. The girl explains that each ornament has a story representing different points in their family history and shows how that history is passed down to new generations.
The mixed media art used throughout the story makes it feel homemade, just like some of the ornaments.

I was given a free eARC copy of this book on NetGalley from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

How to Decorate A Christmas Tree is an adorable children’s book. The illustrations are gorgeous and full of so much detail. This book could be read over and over and I’d still find something new to see. The stories behind each ornament are so sweet and provided me with great memories from when I was a child. I loved the addition of the sweet cat! Cats make everything better!

The illustrations in this book are wonderful - there are so many intricate details that would make this book great for rereads. The book is less how-to decorate a tree than the title suggests, and is more the stories behind ornaments as they are hung on the tree. I really enjoyed the family history behind all of them but thought it was a lot of text on each page so this book would be better for slightly older readers.

I received a free copy of, How to Decorate a Christmas Tree, by Vikki Vansickle, from the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Such a sweet story about a sister, showing her baby brother how to decorate a tree, and about all the ornaments on the tree. The illustrations in this book are amazing.

What a fun children's picture book!

Told from the perspective of a little girl telling her baby brother "How to Decorate a Christmas Tree," this book is delightful.

It's fun to reminisce with the family as they put different ornaments on the tree & talk about their significance.

My daughter & I enjoyed this book very much. Thank you Netgalley!
(I was able to preview this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.)

First of all, I want to give a big shoutout to the person doing the illustration of the book, Miki Sato, who made the drawings so beautifully; can’t get over how good it is. And then I want to say how very wonderfully written the story was. It’s so good I need to purchase the book. It was so well written and I enjoyed myself with how the main character, Della, was describing each of the ornaments and how each represented something major for the Christmas tree. Very cute and wholesome story.

I just reviewed How to Decorate a Christmas Tree by Vikki VanSickle. #NetGalley

Thanks to NetGalley and Tundra Books for my ARC in exchange for my honest review. This book will be published October 10, 2023.

I absolutely loved the 3-D artwork in this book. It was stunning! The words were less compelling but then again it’s a children’s book. It walks the reader through how to decorate a Christmas tree - from unpacking the lights to hanging the ornaments. Taffy the cat has some cute cameos.

What I liked best was how every ornament had a memory attached. ❤️💚

Super sweet children's holiday story. The story follows a child through their steps of decorating their Christmas tree. The child explains the special meaning behind each step, and the stories behind the decorations that are used to decorate the tree. The ending was a wonderful surprise on sharing/passing down traditions. The cat with the side story throughout the books was a cute little addition. The addition of cultural references made the story more intriguing and personal to myself, as I was able to connect with these references.

The artwork to the story is beautiful - I absolutely adore clay artwork.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House Canada, Tundra Books for the eARC in exchange for an honest opinion.

A charming family story to add to your shelf for Christmas. The highlight for me was the detailed art of the book. I love the combination of papercutting layered over illustration for the entirety of the book. The storytelling has a wonderful balance between illustration and words. The sweet story of a family decorating their tree and the stories that ornaments and traditions can have is a wonderful way to to start the holiday. Pair it with "How to Pick a Pine Tree" and you have a great Christmas tree book tradition before decorating.

My 9 year old picked this out to read with me, so you get a bonus voice in this review.

My take: Delightful. It brought some Christmas spirit to an otherwise dreary day when we read this, as we talked about our favorite ornaments and how we decorate our tree and home. I LOVED the artwork and that they weren't flat. The writing is approachable for children of any age.

My daughter's. When we read a book, I ask her to tell me 3 things she really liked about it.
1. The pictures. You could see they were "made" and not drawn.
2. The cat all the way through. It was like a little story itself.
3. It made me think about our Christmas tree, and made me want to make my own ornaments like the ones in the book.

I asked her if she'd want me to buy a copy when it's published and she tells me that for someone her age, it's a "library book" (read and return), but she'd like to get one for her baby sister.

4ish stars

This is a sweet, holiday children’s story. The artwork is beautiful, and I appreciated the ongoing and accurate antics of Taffy the cat throughout the book. All in all, it was a fun little story, and I’ll definitely consider purchasing it for friends’ kids next Christmas.

This book wasn’t quite what I was expecting. It isn’t a generalized tale of decorating a Christmas tree but rather a very personalized chronicle of one girl’s family ornaments and traditions. As readers, though, we don’t really know much about the character, so it feels slightly disjointed to me. Either make it personal - “I’m Della Rose and this is my Christmas tree” or make it more generalized, “Our family gets a real tree that we need to water every day but your family might have an artificial one that stays with you through the years” or something to that affect. I think the way it is written makes it hard for readers (particularly young readers) to connect with the story and the little girl. She tells us about her family’s ornaments (we loved the cultural references and explanations) but there’s never a breath to let the reader connect his/her story to the one in the book. For the most part, the pictures are lovely and engaging, with the exception of the one with the collage of ornaments. On that page, the ornaments look too realistic (is it an actual photo?) while the cat looks like it came out of a coloring book. Strange. Overall, I think this has potential to reach a larger audience but to me and my young readers, it fell flat.

Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Random House Canada for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

This is such a sweet story of the season. A young girl is sharing the steps to decorate a Christmas tree... but it is so much more. It's about the special memories, beloved traditions, and favorite things that happen as this family decorates the tree that is so endearing. Readers of How to Decorate a Christmas Tree will be delighted by this seasonal tale with beautiful three-dimensional artwork by Miki Sato. I know it's early in the year yet, but this might be my favorite children's Christmas book of the 2023.

How to Decorate a Christmas Tree is an adorable children's holiday book. It would make the perfect Christmas gift. We follow along as a little girl, her family, and cat decorate their Christmas tree with various things. I loved how the meaning of some sentimental ornaments were included. My 3 and 5 year olds loved this one.

This would be a great book for early readers.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House Canada for allowing me to be an early reader. All opinions are my own.

How to decorate a Christmas Tree gives us an insight into the main characters family traditions surrounding Christmas. She decorates the tree with sentiment ornaments, explaining their meaning and value. With a sweet surprise at the ending, this book definitely hit all the way into the feels.
I was reminded of all of our special Christmas ornaments, and the milestones and memories they represent.

The three-dimensional art is phenomenal and lends an extra special something to the book. We will definitely read it before/while decorating our tree this year.

Thanks NetGalley for this special ARC!

How to Decorate a Christmas Tree by Vikki VanSickle 5/5

This is an adorable book filled with all the great moments that come with the magic of Christmas. I enjoyed the story, the character and the fact that they did not make the story all about material items, but also made it important to spend time with family.