Though Marianna was almost ten and her brother Kenny was eleven, they had never had a Christmas tree—not once!  Their mother didn't believe in doing things "like every tom-dick-and-harry."  Maybe this year would be different, however, maybe she would say yes.  Why even Allie McKaye, Marinna's best friend, had a tree, and she lived on a barge that tied up at Pier 16, just below Marianna's house in Brooklyn Heights.

When Marianna found a still-fresh tree, thrown out by students at a nearby college who had celebrated Christmas early, she took it home to the garden.  And the next day, Allie helped her to drag more discarded trees home.  When Mama found out they were right there, she'd probably choose one and say to bring it inside, Marianna thought.

This funny, tender, very human story, with its unexpected ending, is illumined by the humorous understanding, the deep sense of childhood, and the gentle irony that mark Eleanor Estes' memorable book, The Hundred Dresses.  The background of Brooklyn Heights at Christmastime, affectionately portrayed, gives a special aura to this glowing new book by the greatly loved author who was awarded the Newbery Medal for her Ginger Pye.

From the dust jacket