The National Tree

By David Kranes

Book Overview

Corey Burdock is a simple man living a simple life. Raising his son Rock, alone, after his wife abandons them, Corey takes refuge in nurturing the trees on his northern California land. The needs of trees are easily understood. The needs of sons are not.

When the president calls the Burdocks to accept Corey's offer of a perfect Sitka spruce to become the National Christmas tree, Corey has no idea how profoundly the simple delivery of the tree from his California home to Washington D.C. will change his life.

As Corey and Rock trek across the country, their journey becomes more than just 3,000 miles traveled. It becomes a journey of discovery for father and son, and a simple gesture of patriotism that galvanizes a nation.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 092971248X
• ISBN13: 9780929712482
• Release Date: November 2001
• Publisher: Huntington Press
• Length: 292 Pages
• Weight: 0.98 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 3.5" x 12.3"

Customer Reviews

PLANT THIS TREE!

The National Tree is an odyssey of a father and son as they truck their huge home-grown Northwest Sitka Spruce across the country to Washington D.C., where it will be planted and preside as the nation's official tree. This is the frame of Kranes' novel, the underlying theme of which is the portrayal of difficulties inherent in the father/son relationship, and, throughout the journey, the discoveries and recognitions that lead father and son to a more mature companionship. The survival of the tree and the growth of the father and son are organically entwined in a novel of lush and careful language.

American Odyssey

Okay, the movie is good, but the book is great. What's more American than a cross-country trip? What's more elemental than a hundred hours in a truck cab with a father and son? There's a scary thought. Kranes is unflinching in looking at what's hard, but also knows what's important. A great read.

Both thumbs up

Kranes' books always surprise and inspire, and his language arcs and sparks and pops. The National Tree is just one in a long line of books and plays by one of the west's best writers.

A Must Add to your Must Read Collection

This was the first David Kranes book I read - and I became a huge follower of his writing. (If you have not read Making the Ghost Dance add to your list as well). David is an incredibly visual writer, full of passion and color, magic and emotions. Just read the first chapter about the Salmon cermony and you are caught up in this journey. No matter what genre of book you enjoy, this is an intelligently written and delightful story that I gave all of my friends and family to read when it first came out. The Hallmark movie was only but a shell of what the story was about. Give it to a college professor, to a doctor or to your mom, all will enjoy.

National Tree Unfolded

David Kranes' book The National Tree was recently aired on the Hallmark channel to one of the highest ratings. In short, a father and son journey across the United States, from Oregon to Washington, D.C. driving a spruce tree to be delivered to the White House for our national tree. As with any movie that adapts a novel, and as it so often happens, loosely bases the adaptation on a novel, the chorus is so often, 'The book is so much better.' Trust me, it is. The triumph, payoff and the development of a father and son relationship that truly grows by the end of the novel simply belongs to the world of literature and imagination. WJM