Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews
Santa Claus: All About Me
Novelty Picture Book
For ages 7 and up
Minedition, 2013 ISBN: 978-9881512659
Santa has been keeping diaries for hundreds of years, each one of which is bound in red leather. The thing is that these diaries are private, full of hidden Christmas magic, and they are not meant to be seen by others. Mrs. Christmas has decided that Santa should compile a record of his “day-to-day life and memories from years gone by.” She gives her husband a handsome book to write in, pointing out that one day Santa’s “hair and beard will be too long” and his “waistline too round” for him to get up and down chimneys. People will want to know about his tenure at Santa Claus when he retires.
Santa ends up creating a collection of articles about his life, which Santa fans of all ages are going to enjoy exploring. Among other things, we find out that Santa loves getting letters and cards from children, and every evening he spends “a few peaceful hours reading through them with young Master Christmas, [his son] making notes as we go along.” Since Santa gets so many letters and emails these days, the requests are then cross-referenced and entered into a database. This is the only way to make sure that Santa does not forget anyone.
On another pair of pages in Santa’s book there is a map that shows all the places that Santa has visited. It is easy to tell that Santa has been everywhere. He also lists many of his “gift-giving colleagues” around the world, and then he talks about them in more details. We learn that in France Pere Noel and Pere Fouettard used to work together. Santa does not really have a partner in gift-giving per se, but he does have a team to help him. Without Mrs. Christmas, Master Christmas, the elves and his reindeer Santa would not be able to do what he does, magic or not.
Later on in the book we find out about the elves who help Santa. They are a good bunch but they are also mischievous. As Santa says, “Elves and mischief, you can’t one without the other.” We find out that each of the elves is an expert in a particular field. For example, the Sugar Elf is a baker and sweet maker extraordinaire. Administrator elves keep everything in order and use electronic notepads and even iPods to keep track of everything.
Santa Claus and Father Christmas fans of all ages are going to thoroughly enjoy getting to know the famous North Pole resident as they look through this book. There are mini books, letters, and cards to open, pop-ups to admire, flaps to lift and so much more. Every spread is packed with information and annotated artwork. In short, this is the definitive book about Santa, his life, and his world.
