Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews
How Santa lost his job
Illustrator: S.D. Schindler
Picture Book
For ages 3 to 7
Simon and Schuster, 2001 ISBN: 978-0689831737
There is no doubt that Santa has a pretty hard job and at times he falls a bit behind; as one of his elves says he is "only human" and cannot help being a little disorganized and sometimes slow. For one of the elves however this is not a satisfactory answer and he invents a machine that will replace Santa. Santa and the machine - the "Deliverator"- are to have three races to see who can deliver the elves? toys "sooner, faster, and better."
Unfortunately for Santa he loses all three of the races he is set and he finds himself out of a job - but not for long for the Deliverator has run into trouble and Santa is badly needed.
This twist on the traditional Santa stories is both funny and engaging for readers of all ages. We learn that it is hard to do a job perfectly, even if one is Santa, but that this fact does not matter all that much in the big scheme of things, so long as one tries ones best.
