Publication Date: October 3, 2006
Publisher: Atheneum
Author:
· Rod Green
· Jon Lucas
· Carol Wright
· Simon Danaher
· Craig Sudac
Grade: A
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Book Review: Santa Claus
by R.J. Carter
Published: December 4, 2006
Santa Claus is one of those new breed of interactive books -- not really pop-up, but filled with pull-tabs, fold outs, tiny booklets within a book, and sealed envelopes of surprises.
Santa Claus is not a story, but an Encyclopedia Phantasmagorica, going into tremendous detail about the North Pole, the way the elves grow food, how the mail room operates, the make-up of Santa's magical suit, and all the technical specifications about the sled: length, power, and all the tricked out special equipment like the altitude regulator, bubble timer, and enchanted cargo hold.
Of course, there's more prosaic information as well that you could research out of a regular reference book -- like the origins of the Christmas tree, a little about the different animals that live at the North Pole, the background on St. Nicholas of Myra, and actual sightings of Santa, like this one:
On December 21, 1968, three NASA astronauts in Apollo 8 made history when they blasted off from Earth's surface to become the first men to orbit, or fly around, the Moon. They spent twenty hours circling the Moon, and each time they passed behind the Moon, they lost radio contact with Earth, so no one knew if they were still okay. When the spacecraft appeared from behind the Moon for the last time on Christmas Day, the astronaut James Lovell announced, "Please be informed that there is a Santa Claus." To this day no one can be sure if he was joking or if he really did spot Santa on the far side of the Moon.
Blending photography, photo-realistic painting, and CGI imagery, Santa Claus is a book that will keep the Santa-curious busy for quite a while, peeking behind flaps and exploring concealed treasures.
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