Mr. Willowby's tree is too tall for the parlor, so he trims the top off. The maid takes the top. Then the bear takes what she trims, and the fox takes what the bear trims, all the way down to a mouse with a sprig. One tree, an entire forest of homes.

In print since 1963 and still one of the great read alouds, because the pattern is exactly what a small child wants: predictable, funny, and building to a last page that lands every single time. Underneath the rhyme there is a quiet lesson about nothing going to waste, which nobody has to point out.