A touching Christmas tale resurrected

Port Washington children’s author Barbara Joosse has a special reason to celebrate this holiday season — the release of her new Christmas book, “Everybody’s Tree.”

The book was a labor of love that’s been more than 10 years in the making —literally.

Joosse wrote the story more than a decade ago and her friend and longtime illustrator Renee Graef did the art for it.

Joosse submitted it to her agent, only to have it rejected by all the publishing houses.

“Nobody bought it,” she said. 

She was at a low point in her career, when she was filled with doubt and feared she would never sell another book.

So she shelved the book, and years later, in a purge of her office, threw it away.

“It’s not the first one I’ve done that with,” Joosse said.

But in the meantime, she said, “I got unclogged.” 

She wrote a plethora of books, including the Lulu and Rocky series that Graef illustrated.

Then one day Graef told Joosse she wanted to work on something different. What happened to that Christmas book, she asked.

Joosse confessed she had thrown it away, but Graef insisted there had to be a copy lying around. 

“Look again,” she told Joosse, who searched her home and computer and reported back that the book was gone. Look again, Graef said. 

This time, Joosse noticed a shelf at the top of her bookcase. She dragged a ladder over.

“I thought maybe,” she said. “I climbed up and I could barely inch my fingers over the top and I felt some papers.”

It was the book, which she sent off to Sleeping Bear Press with a note: “This isn’t very good, but I think I can make it better.”

Within the hour, Joosse said, she got a reply — “Don’t touch a word. It’s perfect.”

Timing, Joosse said, made all the difference.

“When I wrote it, nobody wanted a sentimental story. They wanted edgy,” she said “But what felt cliche 10 years ago today feels fresh and desired. People today want something good to share.”

“Everybody’s Tree” is the 54th or 55th book Joosse’s published — she doesn’t keep an exact count. It tells the story of an evergreen tree planted by a young boy and nurtured through the years until it becomes a majestic, towering tree near the end of its life.

As the tree ponders its life, a helicopter crew flying above spots it and pegs it as the next community Christmas tree. 

The story follows the tree as its cut down and brought to the city square, decorated and then unveiled as the city’s holiday tree with the family that nurtured it standing with the crowd.

That is when the tree realizes that it has a bigger mission, to provide light to the dark winter world.

“I shine so the darkest corner has light,” it realizes.

The story resonates with many people, Joosse said.

“This is a touching story for many people because they planted a tree when their dad died or their child was born,” she said. “Through the years, it becomes a part of the family.”

The story also speaks to children considering their place in the world, Joosse said, noting the story begins when the tree is a tiny sapling, saying, “I’m just a little sprout from a mighty spruce tree and I wonder — I wonder! — what will I be?”

“If you ask kids, especially now, they have big thoughts,” Joosse said.  

But they don’t always know what to do with those thoughts or what their place in the world will be.

“But like the tree, it’s in there,” she said.

Unlocking that potential is life’s journey, and that’s something children need to know, she said.

The book includes activity pages for children to fill out to help them realize that lesson.

While “Everybody’s Tree” is Joosse’s latest work, she has plenty more stories to tell. Joosse said she has several books coming out next year, including “The Fisherman, the Horse and the Sea,” which is set in Port and tells the true story of a rescue by the Smith Bros. commercial fishing family.

Joosse said Port Washington continues to inspire her writing.

“I’ve never been so productive,” she said. “I love it so much. This is a writer’s place. There are stories everywhere. Every single day I walk, and I find a different story each day.”