Patricia Toht once owned a children's bookshop called Never Never Land before turning a love of books into a love of writing. Pick a Pine Tree is her debut picture book. Patricia Toht lives in Atascadero, CA.

Jarvis is an illustrator and animator who has worked as both a record jacket designer and an animation director. He is the author-illustrator of Alan's Big, Scary Teeth. Jarvis lives in Manchester, England.

The short, rhyming text has a bouncy, appealing tone...Delightful mixed-media illustrations use a flattened perspective, simple shapes, and glowing, light-filled backgrounds for a fresh take on the tree-decorating tradition. The illustrations are all in double-page-spread format with compositions that will work well for reading to a group or with just one child in a lap. Pick this delightful story for a Christmas storytime, for library collections, or for family reading around the Christmas tree.
--Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

Holiday spirit crackles in Toht's warm, step-by-step recounting of how humble stately pines transform into shimmering Christmas trees...Jarvis's chalk and pencil texturing adds to the sense of a casual, homey holiday filled with traditions many families will recognize.
--Publishers Weekly

The pencil, chalk, paint, and digitally colored paintings are brimming with holiday cheer and warmth. Share with little ones prior to decorating a tree or as secular Christmas fare for holiday storytimes.
--School Library Journal

Toht's rhyming text is greatly illuminated by Jarvis's mixed-media illustrations, which imbue each step in the process with holiday warmth and capably capture that satisfying, twinkling glow of Christmas decorations.
--The Horn Book

Publisher: Candlewick Press (MA)

Pub date: 2026-09-22

Length: 32 pages