Synopses & Reviews
Can Santa find you even if you are stuck in a motel room on Christmas Eve? A room without a chimney or a mailbox with your name on it? A winsome story, marvelously detailed illustrations and just a touch of magic make this handsome book ideal for sharing at holiday time.
Review
Kirkus Reviews Starred Review Christmas Eve isn't always a time of calm, peace, and perfect plans. Sometimes a family traveling to another destination and complications ensue, as is the case with this short, touching story by Rosenberg (17: A Novel in Prose Poems, p.1318, etc.). The unnamed first-person narrator looks back to a snowy Christmas Eve when he was four or five and on the way to his aunt's house with his parents, older brother, and baby sister. A snowstorm forces the family to stop for the night at a roadside motel with a star on its sign (and as luck would have it, there is room at the inn.) The moody, dark illustrations, both in colors and in feeling, effectively show the disappointed children and the exhausted parents trying to do their best. Will Santa miss them in their snowbound motel? As the mother in the story says, "He always finds a way." The young narrator wakes in the middle of the night in time to hear the bells, see the reindeer, and meet Santa himself. Clapp's (The Prince of Butterflies, p.332) stunning illustrations make readers into believers: in one spread that is pure magic, the child's face is lit with joy as Santa flings toys and packages into the room, each gift surrounded by golden light. Another memorable spread shows Santa pointing at the starry sky, where mysterious, misty letters spell out the beginnings of Christmas wishes. The understated text, nighttime setting, and varied perspectives will remind many Van Allsburg's Polar Express, but this Christmas Eve tale creates a magic all its own. Publishers Weekly Even through icy wind and blinding snow, Santa's special kid-tracking system is in perfect working order as proven in this reassuring picture book. A family traveling on Christmas Eve must take refuge at a motel during a fierce winter storm, and their younger son worries that Santa Claus will never find them. What happens during the night is every child's Christmas fantasy: the boy meets Santa face-to-face. Rosenberg's (Monster Mama) verse builds up a gentle suspense and Clapp's (Shining) realistic watercolors neatly balance the fantastic and lifelike elements of the story. His contrast of a crisply rendered contemporary family with a velvety, flurry-filled night sky and solid Santa makes the events seem all the more possible. Booklist With a moving blend of realism and mystery, this picture book captures the Christmas holiday spirit. . . . The spare words, with just the right details and powerful pictures filled with their shifting light, set the close-up portraits of the contemporary family—the boy, his parents, his older brother, and his baby sister—against the wild, stormy night. . . . The magic is focused on Santa, but theres also just a hint of that other Christmas mystery about a family that sought shelter at the inn. School Library Journal Author and illustrator combine a straightforward realism with a touch of magic and wonder to create a simple, satisfying picture book. . . . This is the perfect selection for children who are old enough to know that some people don't believe in Santa but young enough to cling stubbornly to their own belief. Bulletin, Center for Children's Books The thin, reassuringly predictable story offers no twists or surprises, but Clapp imbues some magic into the night with his hyper realistic figures steeped in shadows cast by eerie light from motel neon and moonlight-mottled snowflakes. The narrator, convincingly poised just at the brink of Santa disbelief, is fashioned by both text and pictures into an empathetic character, surrounded by an older brother too cool to care about Christmas, a baby sister too young to know, and parents too tired and stressed to offer more than perfunctory comfort.
About the Author
Liz Rosenberg, distinguished author, poet, and professor of children's literature, lives in Binghamton, New York. She is also the author of
We Wanted You. John Clapp has illustrated many picture books, including T
he Prince of Butterflies by Bruce Coville. He lives with his wife, Mary , near San Francisco, California.