The best presents are the ones you don't expect.

It's Christmas Eve, 1931, and Henry and his out-of-work father have just finished a long day selling Christmas trees in Midtown Manhattan. Before heading home, they give away the last few trees to construction workers, who decorate the tallest one—the first Rockefeller Center tree!

On Christmas morning, Henry awakes to a surprise. The workers have gathered outside his family's drafty shack with enough lumber to build a simple, decent home. The gift of a hammer from one of the carpenters changes Henry's life.

With renewed hope for the future, young Henry plants a pinecone he has saved from the Rockefeller Center tree. Over his lifetime, the pinecone grows into a towering spruce. But the circle of giving is not yet complete....

Written by children's historian David Rubel in collaboration with Habitat for Humanity and illustrated by Jim LaMarche, The Carpenter's Gift celebrates the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center, and American tradition. Each year, the tree is milled into lumber that Habitat for Humanity uses to build a simple, decent home with a family in need.

From the dust jacket