On December 6, 1917, two tramp steamers, the Mont-Blanc and the Imo, collided in wartime Halifax Harbour. Steel grating on steel caused sparks to fly creating what became the largest man-made explosion of its time. More than 2000 people died (500 of those children) and 9,000 were injured. It left 6,000 people homeless and an additional 19,000 without adequate shelter.

One of the most generous responses came from Boston. Within 48 hours it organized trains to carry 33 doctors, 79 nurses, and six representatives of relief agencies.

In honor of this act of compassion and generosity, every year the province of Nova Scotia sends the City of Boston one of its most beautiful trees. The tree lighting usually takes place in November on the Boston Common. The Nova Scotia tree is always the first tree lit on the Common. This is the story of the Little Tree by the Sea and how it came to be in the Boston Common.

John DeMont is the best-selling and award-winning author of Citizens Irving: The Irvings of New Brunswick and The Last Best Place: Lost in the Heart of Nova Scotia. He has written for many publications, including the Financial Times, Canadian Geographic, The Walrus, and Maclean's, where he was Atlantic bureau chief for ten years.

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BELLE DEMONT est auteure et illustratrice de Halifax, en Nouvelle-Écosse. Jamais sans mon sac à main! est son premier livre jeunesse.

BELLE DEMONT is a writer and illustrator from Halifax, Nova Scotia. This is her first book.

SONJA WIMMER is an award-winning German illustrator and storyteller from Munich.

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