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ENTRY TYPE:
WORK TITLE: Nisha’s Just-Right Christmas Tree
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: http://www.susanlynnmeyer.com/
CITY:
STATE:
COUNTRY: United States
NATIONALITY: American
LAST VOLUME: SATA 404
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born 1960; married; husband’s name Ken; children: Hannah.
EDUCATION:Johns Hopkins University, B.A.; University of California, Los Angeles, M.A.; Yale University, M.A., M.Phil., Ph.D.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Educator and author. Wellesley College, Boston, MA, professor of English and creative writing. Presenter at schools.
AVOCATIONS:Reading, playing with her daughter.
MEMBER:Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators.
AWARDS:Sydney Taylor Award Silver Medal, Association of Jewish Libraries, Best Children’s Book selection, Bank Street College of Education, Massachusetts Book Award finalist, and Boston Authors’ Club Highly Recommended selection, all 2011, and Rebecca Caudill Young Reader’s Award shortlist, 2013, all for Black Radishes; Children’s Book Award, Jane Addams Peace Association; New York State Charlotte Award.
WRITINGS
Contributor, under name Susan Meyer, of stories and poems to periodicals, including Cricket, Highlights for Children, and Ladybug.
SIDELIGHTS
A professor of English who has written on academic topics, Susan Lynn Meyer was inspired to write her first picture book, Matthew and Tall Rabbit Go Camping, by watching her young daughter express her worries through play. In addition to producing the picture books, New Shoes and Nisha’s Just-Right Christmas Tree, Meyer has produced the young-adult novels Black Radishes, Skating with the Statue of Liberty, and A Sky Full of Song, all of which contain historical themes.
Illustrated by Eric Velasquez and set in the pre-civil rights South of the 1950s, New Shoes finds seven-year-old Ella Mae excited about shopping for her first pair of new shoes. The store does not allow African Americans to try on shoes, however; instead, her mother must draw an outline of Ella Mae’s foot to determine the proper size. When Ella Mae and her cousin Charlotte decide that this is not fair, they offer to do chores for friends and family in exchange for payment in the form of unwanted shoes that they then polish up and use to stock their own humble store. Reviewing New Shoes, a Publishers Weekly critic wrote that Meyer’s “prose is vividly precise in its detail” and “the girls’ optimism and determination is almost palpable.” A Kirkus Reviews contributor praised the picture book as “both a revealing glimpse into one aspect of America’s institutionalized racism and inspiration for kids to create their own change.”
Black Radishes was inspired by Meyer’s father’s childhood experiences as a young Jew living in France during World War II. She researched the novel while traveling with her father to the region of France where he grew up. For her protagonist, Gustave Becker, Paris has always been home, but after the Nazis occupy the city his parents decide to move to an out-of-the-way village in the Loire Valley. New difficulties await the Becker family here, however: there is little food to go around and neighbors cannot always be trusted. The Nazis are also rumored to be moving further into the French countryside, their search for Jews in hiding expanding with each passing day. When Gustave meets a girl from the village who is active in the French Resistance, he gains hope. Perhaps there is a way to save his friends left behind in Paris and move everyone he loves out of the occupied zone and into safety in the United States. The title of Black Radishes alludes to the local delicacy with which Gustave and his cousins are able to bribe the German soldiers guarding the border between occupied France and freedom.
Black Radishes “raises important questions about nationalism, equality and identity,” noted a Kirkus Reviews writer, and it highlights the Vichy government’s betrayal of the values fought for during the French Revolution less than two centuries before. Gustave’s story gains impact “from the vivid details of daily life” Meyer inserts in her narrative, wrote Booklist contributor Carolyn Phelan, and Susan Dove Lempke asserted in Horn Book that “real-life events” help to ratchet up the dramatic “tension.” Calling Black Radishes “a dramatic tale of courage and determination,” Renee Steinberg added in her School Library Journal review that Meyer’s “gripping” text is on a par with middle-grade historical fiction written by Carol Matas, Norma Fox Mazer, and Marilyn Sachs.
Gustave returns in Skating with the Statue of Liberty, a novel that also draws on Meyer’s father’s childhood. In this instance, she imagines the unsettled life of an optimistic immigrant arriving in New York City during World War II. Having escaped Europe, Gustave now struggles to master English and is occasionally targeted by schoolyard bullies. He also earns money working as a delivery boy and befriends an African-American classmate with the lyrical name September Rose. In America, Gustave certainly feels safer, but he worries about the fate of the friends and family members still trapped in Europe. “The everyday details of the story guide readers,” noted School Library Journal reviewer Kathy Kirchoefer, the critic citing Meyer’s quiet prose in Skating with the Statue of Liberty . The inclusion of letters from relatives in Nazi-occupied lands that have reached the Becker family add another dimension to Gustav’s experiences, as well as those of the reader. Noting that fears stemming from the European war combine with racial tensions within the United States, Lempke concluded in Horn Book that “there’s no sugar-coating of history here, as Gustave must come to terms with how very terrible the world can be.”
Meyer sets A Sky Full of Song in rural North Dakota in 1905. The book features a Jewish family escaping from pogroms in what is now Ukraine. Preteen Shoshana, her mother, and three sisters join their father and brother in North Dakota where the family moves into in a crowded prairie dugout. Meyer details Shoshanna’s experience in her new home which includes racism, bullying, and feelings of being different as the family assimilates. A Kirkus Reviews critic appreciated the coverage of “a lesser-known Jewish American history” and described the book as “a moving, gently kind coming-to-America story.” A Sky Full of Song “layers richly detailed depictions of Jewish traditions, stunning descriptions of the landscape, and a highly sympathetic narrator,” remarked a Publishers Weekly critic.
(open new)In Nisha’s Just-Right Christmas Tree, Nisha wants a large Christmas tree, while Baba would prefer a smaller one that is easier to carry upstairs to their apartment. There are many ornaments to hang on the tree that mix cultural traditions in their family. They compromise and find a medium-sized tree that can hold all their ornaments but is reasonable to carry upstairs. The family decorates the tree together and then sings Christmas songs while Baba plays the sitar, and Mommy hands Nisha cookies and burfi to enjoy.
Writing in School Library Journal, Jennifer Sontag remarked that “Nisha’s and Baba’s facial expressions match their emotions, and the use of perspective is done well.” A Kirkus Reviews contributor found it to be “a delightful, festive tale,” adding that it is “a welcome reminder that there are myriad ways to celebrate the holidays we love.” A Children’s Bookwatch contributor lauded that it “is especially and unreservedly recommended for family, daycare center, preschool, elementary school, and public library Christmas themed picture book collections for children.”(close new)
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, December 15, 2010, Carolyn Phelan, review of Black Radishes, p. 51; February 1, 2015, Lolly Gepson, review of New Shoes, p. 46.
Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books, December 1, 2010, Hope Morrison, review of Black Radishes, p. 198; April 1, 2015, Elizabeth Bush, review of New Shoes, p. 412.
Children’s Bookwatch, December 1, 2024, review of Nisha’s Just-right Christmas Tree.
Horn Book, January 1, 2011, Susan Dove Lempke, review of Black Radishes, p. 97; May 1, 2016, Susan Dove Lempke, review of Skating with the Statue of Liberty, p. 107.
Horn Book Guide, September 22, 2015, Katrina Hedeen, review of New Shoes, p. 45.
Kirkus Reviews, October 15, 2010, review of Black Radishes; December 15, 2014, review of New Shoes; February 1, 2016, review of Skating with the Statue of Liberty; February 1, 2019, review of Matzah Belowstairs; February 15, 2023, review of A Sky Full of Song; November 15, 2024, review of Nisha’s Just-right Christmas Tree.
Publishers Weekly, December 8, 2014, review of New Shoes, p. 75; December 2, 2015, review of New Shoes, p. 16; February 20, 2023, review of A Sky Full of Song, p. 194.
School Library Journal, January 1, 2011, Renee Steinberg, review of Black Radishes, p. 112; February 1, 2015, Brittany Staszak, review of New Shoes, p. 73; February 1, 2016, Kathy Kirchoefer, review of Skating with the Statue of Liberty, p. 85; September 6, 2024, Jennifer Sontag, review of Nisha’s Just-right Christmas Tree.
ONLINE
BookPage, http://bookpage.com/ (May 1, 2012), Eliza Borné, author interview.
Deborah Harris Agency website, https://www.thedeborahharrisagency.com/ (November 13, 2025), author profile.
Susan Lynn Meyer website, http://www.susanlynnmeyer.com (November 13, 2025).
Wellesley College website, http://web.wellesley.edu/ (December 13, 2010), Molly Tarantino, “Wellesley’s Susan Lynn Meyer Tells of a Boy’s Escape from Occupied France in Suspenseful Debut Novel.”
Writing and Illustrating, https://kathytemean.wordpress.com/ (December 7, 2024), “Holiday Book Extravaganza: Nisha’s Just-right Christmas Tree by Susan Lynn Meyer and Jaya Mehta.”
Susan Lynn Meyer
Susan Lynn Meyer is the author of two previous middle-grade historical novels—BLACK RADISHESB, a Sydney Taylor Honor Award winner, and SKATING WITH THE STATUE OF LIBERTYS—as well as three picture books. Her works have won the Jane Addams Peace Association Children’s Book Award and the New York State Charlotte Award, as well as many other honors. Her novels have been chosen as Junior Library Guild and PJ Our Way selections, included among Bank Street College of Education’s Best Children’s Books of the Year, and translated into German and Chinese. She is Professor of English and Creative Writing at Wellesley College and lives outside Boston.
Beginnings
I have always loved to read. Really—almost always! When I was a toddler, my mother started teaching my older brother David to read. I wanted to do everything David could do, so I spied on the lessons and started to read (or so the family story goes) at the age of two. I remember one doubting librarian who made me prove I could read the books my proud mother was checking out for me.
I grew up in Baltimore, in a small, noisy house, with my five brothers and sisters. Our dog was named Toto. One cold winter night, I found her huddled on an old mattress in our carport. I begged to keep her—and we named her after The Wizard of Oz.
Me and David—not reading yet!
The Lost Book
When I was in first grade, I had a reading disaster. I loved the Pippi Longstocking books by Astrid Lindgren. The library was getting a new one, and I put my name on the long waiting list. After waiting for what seemed like forever, finally it was my turn. I was so absorbed in the story that I brought it into school the next day and read it sitting outside the classroom—and then, when the bell rang, somehow I left it behind. That night I panicked.
The next morning my teacher told me that she had found the book. I started to smile—until she cheerfully informed me that she had returned it to the library. Then I burst into tears. Because she returned my precious book, I had to put my name on the list at the library all over again—and wait for weeks and weeks to finish it!
Me, about age ten. I loved my school library!
The Damaged Book
Sometime in elementary school I did a really embarrassing thing in one of my favorite childhood libraries, the Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore. It’s a grand old building, and in the children’s section there’s a wonderful, open fish pond. The pond is surrounded by a ledge big enough to sit on, and the pond and the rim are covered in ornate tiles. I loved to gather the books I wanted to check out and then sit on the edge, watch the fish, and read. But one day I must have fidgeted while I was reading, and to my horror I knocked one of my library books into the pond! No fish were harmed—they darted out of the way. But the book was soaked. Shamefacedly I told my mother and then the librarian, who, needless to say, wasn’t very happy with me. She took it away to dry, and I didn’t get to check it out.
I notice that now the library has a sign next to the fish pond saying, “No Hands in Water. No Books on Edge.” Do you think it’s there because of me?
My sister recently visited the Enoch Pratt Free Library, and she took a picture of the fish pond. That’s my brother-in-law, Mark, sitting on the edge, just about exactly where I dropped the book in the water. He’s reading the library’s copy of my novel, A SKY FULL OF SONG. So where I was once terribly ashamed of myself, there’s now a copy of my book!
Mark reading by the library fish pond
The Stolen Book
I had another near disaster with a book a few years later in fourth or fifth grade. My Uncle David and Aunt Ann (who is also a writer, novelist Ann Swinfen) lived in Scotland, along with my granny. For my birthday, they sent me wonderful British books that I never would have been able to find in Baltimore. They arrived in brown paper packages with British stamps on them. I still have those much-treasured books from across the ocean. One book they sent me was C. S. Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, which quickly became one of my favorite books of all time.
Unfortunately, there was a girl in my class that year who stole things. I’ll call her Mary. After a while the kids in my class complained enough that our teacher found an excuse to send Mary out of the room. While Mary was out, our teacher looked through her desk. As the teacher picked up pencils, erasers, and jewelry, various kids called out indignantly, “That’s mine!” Then, to my great shock (though I loved books, I obviously didn’t keep good track of them!) she reached into Mary’s desk and lifted out my copy of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.
When Mary came back, our teacher asked her if there was anything in her desk that didn’t belong to her. Mary gave some things back but insisted that my book was hers. I said it was mine, but the teacher didn’t seem to believe me.
But suddenly I remembered something.
“Where did you get it?” I asked.
“My parents bought it for me,” Mary said.
“Where?” I demanded.
Mary named a bookstore in nearby Towson.
“No they didn’t!” I exclaimed triumphantly. “Look at the back of the book.”
The teacher turned my book over, but didn’t see anything.
I jumped up. “There!” I said, pointing.
I had studied and loved the book so much that I knew every detail about it. In small print on the back it said: “For copyright reasons this edition is not for sale in the U.S.A.”
I got my cherished book back, and I still have it. In the photo, you can see that is a little water-damaged from the time I left it in a bag next to my wet swim suit.
Not for Sale in the USA
Click to look closer!
When I wasn’t reading…
Of course, I did other things as a kid. I babysat for my younger brothers and sisters and neighbors. I played softball with the neighborhood kids—and we only sometimes hit the ball through windows or crushed the azalea bushes. I loved swimming, dance classes, and gymnastics. I was really proud when I made it onto the Rebounders Gymnastics Team.
College and After
I went to college in Baltimore, at Johns Hopkins University. I started out as a math major but then changed to English. It was amazing to realize that I could sit and read all I wanted and have that count as schoolwork.
I went on to study literature in graduate school at UCLA (where I got my master’s degree in English literature) and then at Yale (where I got my Ph.D.). I am now an English professor at Wellesley College outside Boston. I write literary criticism (books and articles about works of literature) as well as children’s books. I teach courses in Victorian literature, American literature, and creative writing.
When I came to Wellesley for my interview, I really wanted the job, partly because the campus is so beautiful. One of the first things I noticed about the campus was how much the lights looked like the lamp post in the Narnia books. See what I mean?
Me, Now
I live outside Boston with my family. We used to have a wonderful Labrador Retriever, Luisa (named after one of the daughters in The Sound of Music).
Now we have a cat, Molly, who definitely has a mind of her own.
She likes to settle down on top of my warm laptop computer when I’m trying to type! Here she is inside my husband’s banjo case.
I spend too much time reading and writing at the computer. Maybe Molly is trying to tell me something when she walks over the keyboard.
But I also like kayaking, doing beginner yoga, exploring the rocky coast of Maine, berry-picking, bicycling, hiking, and ice-skating. I hate lima beans—I never outgrew that from my childhood. I love old public libraries, the French language, fountains, fall in New England, and caramel apples.
Short Bio:
Susan Lynn Meyer is the author of three middle-grade novels—A Sky Full of Song, Black Radishes, and Skating with the Statue of Liberty—as well as four picture books. Her works have won the Western Writers of America Spur Award, the Will Rogers Gold Medallion Award, the Sydney Taylor Honor Award (twice), the Jane Addams Peace Association Children’s Book Award, and the New York State Charlotte Award, as well as many others. Her books have been chosen as Junior Library Guild selections, included among Bank Street College of Education’s Best Children’s Books of the Year, and translated into German and Chinese. She is Professor of English and Creative Writing at Wellesley College and lives outside Boston.
Susan loves to read about the past. Her most recent novel, A Sky Full of Song, was inspired by an old family photograph of a baby in a buggy front of a dugout, much research into the history of Jewish homesteaders in the Dakotas, and an awe-struck response to the sky over the Great Plains.
Education and Current Position:
Susan Lynn Meyer grew up in Baltimore, Maryland. She has a B.A. in English Literature from Johns Hopkins University, an M.A. from the University of California at Los Angeles, and an M.A., M.Phil. and Ph.D. in English from Yale University. She now lives outside Boston and works as Professor of English and Creative Writing at Wellesley College.
HOLIDAY BOOK EXTRAVAGANZA: NISHA’S JUST-RIGHT CHRISTMAS TREE by Susan Lynn Meyer and Jaya Mehta
Susan Lynn Meyer and Jaya Metha have a new picture book, NISHA’S JUST-RIGHT CHRISTMAS TREE, illustrated by Parvati Pillai and published by Beaming Books on October 15, 2024.
Kate has agreed to share a copy with one lucky winner! All you need to do to get in the running is leave a comment. Reblog, tweet, or talk about it on Facebook with a link, and you will get additional chances to win. Just let me know where you shared the good news so I can put the correct number of tickets in the basket. Sharing on Facebook and Twitter and reblogging help spread the word about a new book. Thanks for helping Susan, Jaya, and Parvati.
If you have signed up to follow my blog and receive it daily, please let me know when you leave a comment, and I will give you an extra ticket. Thanks!
BOOK DESCRIPTION:
Wide like an elephant and tall like a camel. That would be the perfect Christmas tree.
When Nisha and her father set out to pick out a Christmas tree, she wants a big tree, but her Baba wants a small one. Nisha tries to persuade Baba they need a big tree to fit the new ornaments from India. She’ll even help pull the wagon! But Baba still insists on a small tree. So when Baba and Nisha surprisingly agree on the same tree, she suddenly isn’t sure about it. Is the tree they both like big or small? In the end, the tree is the perfect size–for the ornaments, for their apartment, and for sharing Christmas cookies and silvery burfi.
Nisha’s Just-Right Christmas Tree captures a familiar Christmas tradition through charming text and illustrations. Based on a true story from author Jaya Mehta’s childhood, the book beautifully demonstrates a blend of cultures between Nisha’s father, who is Hindu, and her mother, who is Christian, as they celebrate Christmas together in their Brooklyn Heights apartment. Backmatter shares more about blending cultures, including examples from both authors’ lives.
BOOK JOURNEY:
Our book journey from writing partners to co-authors began before Nisha’s Just-Right Christmas Tree was conceived. We have been friends for years, ever since we met as graduate students. During the Covid shutdown of 2020, the two of us decided to zoom in every morning and write. We were each working on our separate novels, and after writing for a few hours, we would listen to what the other had written and offer suggestions. Susan was writing the middle-grade novel that would become A Sky Full of Song (Union Square Kids, 2023). Jaya was writing On the Other Side of the Door, the YA manuscript that would win her the Reese Witherspoon LitUp Fellowship in 2022.
At the end of each writing session, we commented on each other’s just-written words. Our suggestions could range from discussing the whole story arc to advice about specific word choices. For example, Jaya, who had studied violin as a child, helped Susan get the details right in her account of Shoshana, a Russian Empire refugee learning to play the fiddle in a dugout on the North Dakota prairie. Susan encouraged Jaya to make her last paragraph more poetic, which she did.
And then at times, after sharing and discussing our writing, we would chat. During one of these conversations, Jaya related an anecdote about choosing a Christmas tree during her early childhood in Brooklyn. Susan, who had written many picture books as well as novels, got excited. “That would make a great picture book!” she said.
This anecdote was the seed that grew into Nisha’s Just-Right Christmas Tree. We passed a draft back and forth by email and then we zoomed together, discussing everything from the big picture to the smallest details, editing as we went on Share Screen. We went through about seven rounds of this. In writing a picture book, everything has to be compressed into 500-600 words, about two typescript pages. Within this length, one has to have a full story arc. A picture book is a bit like a poem in that everything is compressed, and each word has to count.
In the case of Nisha’s Just-Right Christmas Tree, a small girl and her father search for the perfect Christmas tree. The context, drawing from Jaya’s own background, is a family of mixed racial and ethnic origins, and how that mix expresses itself in their holiday celebrations.
Our agent, Rena Rossner, submitted the manuscript to various publishing houses. We feel very lucky that Beaming Books decided to publish Nisha’s Just-Right Christmas Tree. They have treated us very well in every way, both in producing and marketing the book. Authors don’t usually get to choose the illustrators for their books, but Beaming Books gave us a choice among about a dozen possible illustrators—a choice we mulled over extensively, again by Zoom. We are delighted that we were able to choose Parvati Pillai and that she was available to take on this project. We waited eagerly for our first glimpse of the art, which delighted us. Parvati Pillai has done a marvelous, imaginative job on the book, vividly conveying the vibrancy of the holiday and portraying Nisha’s strong will and joyous energy.
SUSAN’S BIO:
SUSAN LYNN MEYER is the author of three previous picture books, including New Shoes, winner of the Jane Addams Peace Association Children’s Book Award and the New York State Reading Association Charlotte Award. She is also the author of three middle-grade historical novels for children A Sky Full of Song, Black Radishes, and Skating With the Statue of Liberty) and of three previous picture books.
Her books have won many awards, including the Sydney Taylor Honor Award, the Will Rogers Gold Medallion Award, the Western Writers of America Spur Award, the Jane Addams Children’s Book Award, the New York State Charlotte Award, and the NAACP Image Award Finalist. They have also been translated into German and Chinese. Susan is a Professor of English at Wellesley College and lives with her family outside Boston.
JAYA’S BIO:
Jaya Mehta was previously a professor of English literature at Vanderbilt and Butler Universities and now works as a freelance fiction writer for children. Jaya won a LitUp Fellowship from Reese’s Book Club for a YA manuscript in 2022.
Jaya loves observing wildlife, cuddling with her two dogs, attending storytelling events, traveling to foreign countries, and playing board games with her family, during which her husband and son cheat madly. She lives in Chelmsford, Massachusetts.
PARVATI’S BIO:
Parvati Pillai is a visual and creative designer passionate about illustration, storytelling, and brand building. Her books include The Pig with the Runaway Tail, Mira, Royal Detective, and Bindu’s Bindis. Parvati lives in Finland and loves storytelling, traveling, gardening, and food A Finland based Visual Communication Designer who is keen to discover, explore and goes the extra mile to create something new.
Her illustration style remains sophisticated yet childlike, something she is attuned to years of watching and loving cartoon shows, too. A Finland-based Visual Communication Designer keen to discover, explore, and go the extra mile to create something new.
Susan, thank you for sharing your book and journey with us. This book will get Children excited about the coming of Christmas. Little Nisha sits next to Mommy and the two boxes. The first box Mom opened had traveled from India, where Baba was born, all the way to Brooklyn, New York. It is filled with red silk elephants, blue silk camels, beaded peacocks, brass bells, and yellow balls covered with tiny mirrors and bright birds. The other box holds twinkly glass icicles and balls from Mommy’s parents in Maine.
Nisha jumps up and runs to Dad. “Baba, we need a big tree because we have so many new ornaments!” I love the illustration of Nisha and Baba all bundled up outside their apartment, Nitsha pulling her wagon through the snow past the carolers to get to the snowy Christmas tree lot. Baba wants a small tree. Nisha wants a big tree. Mom reminded Nisha and Baba to remember their apartment is small. Nisha and Baba go back a forth saying “Too big.” “To small” until together they find Nisha’s Just-Right Tree. The reader gets to see them decorating the tree blending in America and Indian ornaments while Baba tuned his sitar and played a Christmas carol and Mommy a plate of sparkly Christmas cookies and silvery burfi on the coffee table. Nisha switched on the lights and the three of them sat together eating and admiring their tree.
The book brought back fond memories of my Mom, Dad, and me looking for the perfect tree. Now-a-days, many families have artifical trees, but tehy will still enjoy watching Nisha and her Dad searching for the just-right tree and seeing them as a family decorating their tree. I love how Susan and Jaya subtly show us a blended family and how they includedt heir two cultures. The colorful illustrations Parvati created were a perfect fit with the story being told.
Good luck with the book.
Talk tomorrow,
Kathy
Nisha's Just-Right Christmas Tree
Susan Lynn Meyer & Jaya Mehta, authors
Parvati Pillai, illustrator
Beaming Books https://www.beamingbooks.com
9781506496467, $18.99, HC, 32pp https://www.amazon.com/Nishas-Just-Right-Christmas-Susan-Meyer/dp/1506496466
Synopsis: When Nisha and her father set out to pick out a Christmas tree, she wants a big tree, but her Baba wants a small one. Nisha tries to persuade Baba they need a big tree to fit the new ornaments from India. She'll even help pull the wagon! But Baba still insists on a small tree. So when Baba and Nisha surprisingly agree on the same tree, she suddenly isn't sure about it. Is the tree they both like big or small? In the end, the tree is the perfect size--for the ornaments, for their apartment, and for sharing Christmas cookies and silvery burfi.
Critique: Charmingly illustrated by artist Parvati Pillai,"Nisha's Just-Right Christmas Tree" by co-authors Susan Lynn Meyer and Jaya Mehta captures a familiar Christmas tradition through charming text and illustrations. Based on a true story from author Jaya Mehta's childhood, the book beautifully demonstrates a blend of cultures between Nisha's father, who is Hindu, and her mother, who is Christian, as they celebrate Christmas together in their Brooklyn Heights apartment. Of special note is the Backmatter section which shares more about blending cultures, including examples from both authors' lives. While also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $8.99), "Nisha's Just-Right Christmas Tree" is especially and unreservedly recommended for family, daycare center, preschool, elementary school, and public library Christmas themed picture book collections for children ages 4-8.
Editorial Note #1: Susan Lynn Meyer is the author of three previous picture books, including New Shoes, winner of the Jane Addams Peace Association Children's Book Award and the New York State Reading Association Charlotte Award. She is also the author of three award-winning middle-grade historical novels. Her works have been chosen as Junior Library Guild, PJ Library, and PJ Our Way selections, and have been translated into German and Chinese. Susan is an English professor at Wellesley College and lives outside Boston.
Editorial Note #2: Jaya Mehta was previously a professor of English literature at Vanderbilt and Butler Universities and now works as a freelance fiction writer for children. Jaya won a LitUp Fellowship from Reese's Book Club for a YA manuscript in 2022. She lives outside Boston, among all the animals left behind by her college-age twins.
Editorial Note #3: Parvati Pillai is a versatile illustrator and visual designer living in Finland. She grew up in the vibrant country of India and has been passionate about the interplay of colors since she was a child. When she is not experimenting with new illustration styles, Parvati enjoys storytelling, gardening, and being in nature.
Please Note: Illustration(s) are not available due to copyright restrictions.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2024 Midwest Book Review
http://www.midwestbookreview.com/cbw/index.htm
Source Citation
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MLA 9th Edition APA 7th Edition Chicago 17th Edition Harvard
"Nisha's Just-Right Christmas Tree." Children's Bookwatch, Dec. 2024. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A822840332/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=8b34a44a. Accessed 26 Aug. 2025.
Meyer, Susan Lynn NISHA'S JUST-RIGHT CHRISTMAS TREE Beaming Books (Children's None) $18.99 9, 24 ISBN: 9781506496467
A child and her father pick out the perfect Christmas tree.
Nisha wants a huge tree ("As tall as a camel! As wide as an elephant!"), but Baba wants a small one that he can easily carry up the stairs to their Brooklyn apartment. Still, the tree will need to hold the many decorations the family has inherited: red elephants and blue camels from India, Baba's country of origin; icicles from Maine, where Mommy's parents live. Nisha and Baba reach a compromise: They find a relatively small tree that fits Nisha's requirements. Holding up two of her favorite ornaments, she confirms that the tree is indeed as wide as an elephant and as tall as a camel. Back at home, Baba, Mommy, and Nisha decorate the tree; Nisha's thrilled that she's tall enough to reach the upper branches this year. The tale ends with Nisha and her parents celebrating: Baba plays a Christmas carol on the sitar, while Mommy serves cookies and burfi. The story is lyrical, full of humor and heart. With her exaggerated facial expressions and posture, Nisha cuts an endearing figure in Pillai's bustling art. In their authors' note, Meyer and Mehta discuss the importance of blending cultural traditions (Baba is Hindu; white-presenting Mommy is Christian)--though this theme feels underexplored in the narrative. Still, it's a delightful, festive tale overall.
A welcome reminder that there are myriad ways to celebrate the holidays we love.(Picture book. 3-7)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2024 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Source Citation
Source Citation
MLA 9th Edition APA 7th Edition Chicago 17th Edition Harvard
"Meyer, Susan Lynn: NISHA'S JUST-RIGHT CHRISTMAS TREE." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Nov. 2024. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A815560571/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=e08f6303. Accessed 26 Aug. 2025.
MEYER, Susan Lynn & Jaya Mehta. Nisha's Just-Right Christmas Tree. illus. by Parvati Pillai. 32p. Beaming Bks. Sept. 2024. Tr $18.99. ISBN 9781506496467.
PreS-Gr 2—A cute story about a multicultural family that blends their backgrounds for the Christmas holiday. Nisha's father is Hindu, and her mother is Christian. When Nisha and her father go to pick out their Christmas tree, Nisha wants a big one—but they live in a small apartment and her father worries about getting it up the stairs. When they get to the tree lot, Nisha chooses a tree that's too big, and Baba chooses a tree that's too small. Finally, they agree on a tree, and Nisha demonstrates how big she is by using her wagon to get it home and her strength to get it up the stairs with Baba's help. Mama makes burfi, and the ornaments for the tree come from both Indian and American traditions. In the final scene, Baba plays a Christmas carol on his sitar, Mama serves the burfi, and Nisha sees the reflection of her family together in one of the shiny ornaments. The illustrations carry this story: Nisha's and Baba's facial expressions match their emotions, and the use of perspective is done well. An author's note is appended.
VERDICT: An additional purchase to expand holiday diversity in collections.—Jennifer Sontag
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Sontag, Jennifer. "Nisha's Just-Right Christmas Tree." WebOnlyReviewsSLJ, vol. 70, no. 9, 6 Sept. 2024, p. 1. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A809141408/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=c6d77a69. Accessed 26 Aug. 2025.