Kit is an orphan, apprenticed to the cruel and greedy blacksmith Grimshaw. Kit savours the little beauty to be found in his grim, smoky world – the song of a sparrow, a dying tree outside the forge. When Grimshaw tries to cut the tree down in a rage, Kit discovers it is protected by an angel, who forges magic tools to enable Kit to revive the tree. But the next day, Kit cannot find the tools and assumes he was dreaming. Then, one night, Kit sees Grimshaw trade the magic tools to a wandering huckster. Kit chases the man, begs the magic tools back, and miraculously revives the tree, only to have Grimshaw destroy it with the magic trowel. The falling tree causes a fire in the smithy, and Grimshaw rides away. Brokenhearted at his failure, Kit takes the blacksmith’s place, forgetting about the fruit from the tree that he planted at the charred roots. The next spring, the angel reappears and shows Kit the new sapling he planted to help him realize his efforts were not in vain.

This book is very firmly rooted in the same realm of Robin Muller’s imagination that brought forth The Magic Paintbrush, which garnered the Governor General’s Award for illustration in 1989. The tools the angel forges are black, but shot with silver, to show, the angel says, that “even in the deepest darkness, there is a silver thread of hope.” Muller’s vivid artwork is slightly overdrawn, verging on caricature, but this suits the 19th-century setting and themes. The book tackles serious moral issues, and in doing so teeters dangerously on the brink of full-blown didacticism. What saves it is the realism of Kit’s struggle. Even magic cannot help him accomplish exactly what he wishes. But he does manage to allow life to continue, a limited victory which is enough. This touch of realism makes The Angel Tree a very special book that will bring readers back to it again and again.