Wednesday, December 22, 2021

Review: Santa's Story by Will Hillenbrand

Hear those sleigh bells, yet? With the last days until Christmas, there's still little things here and there and everywhere that need to be prepared. Actually, I was good this year, on that front, and had almost everything done by the beginning of Advent, which was great because life has decided to be busy on other ends. Especially the reading! I ran across this book and found the cover oh-so-cute! It was released two years ago. So, maybe you've seen it somewhere before? If not, hang on because this one promises to be tons of jolly fun.




SANTA'S STORY
by Will Hillenbrand
Two Lions
Picture Book / Christmas
32 pages
ages 4 to 8


Santa is ready to leave on Christmas Eve, but he can’t find the reindeer anywhere. Dasher is busy dashing, Donner is dozing, and Cupid is crooning. It isn’t until Santa remembers their annual tradition—reading a Christmas story together—that the reindeer are ready.

Reindeer merriment abounds in this charming yuletide tale about honoring the celebration of holiday customs with those you love.


GOODREADS   /   AMAZON   /   B&N 


MY TIDBITS

The cover won me over with it's promise of Christmas fun and wintery, Santa scenes. Once the cover was open, it grew even more jollier than I expected.

Santa's packed his sleigh and is ready to head-out on Christmas Eve to deliver the presents to all those boys and girls. But there's one problem. The reindeer are no where in sight! 

Considering the beautiful illustrations, I was expecting a deeper or more traditional story...which it does not have. Instead, its' a super cute read packed with humor for especially the younger age group, ages 2 to 5. Santa is portrayed wonderfully in the illustrations, holding a friendly, likable appearance, which makes it hard not to smile. The wintery scene is also well done and draws into Christmas dreams. But it's the deer, which pack personality, and this comes across with tons of humor. It's fun to see what each one is up to with every flip of the page because it isn't what one might expect.

The writing is kept light and makes a wonderful read-aloud. Written in short sentences and phrases, it also carries fonts to change and illustrate sound effects. While there is a lovely tale of Santa trying to get his reindeer together, this book holds more and makes sure that something is always happening to keep boredom away. So, even those with short-attention spans will enjoy it. The only problem it has as a read-aloud (and this is a tiny one) is the two word phrase above each reindeer (the name with a one-word action). It's printed a bit small, making it a little more difficult for the reader when showing the book and reading it to a group at the same time. For smaller groups or those who read it alone, this isn't an issue, though.


Humor and holiday cheer radiate from every page with reindeer in situations no one expects. Even the ending has a super-cute twist, and it definitely is packed with holiday joy.

1 comment:

Muz Murray said...

This certainly looks like a charmer. I love the illustrative style. Your reviews always make me want to read every book. But I could never keep up with you!