James Patterson: The Santa Kid

The countdown to Christmas has well and truly begun in many households throughout New Zealand. School choirs are practising Christmas songs for their end of year assemblies, and Sunday schools are preparing Nativity plays to be
performed on Christmas Eve. Children are pondering on their Christmas wish lists and some have already sent letters to Santa.

To add to the spirit of the festive season, bookstores everywhere are displaying an array of wonderful Christmas titles.

For parents and children who prefer the focus to remain on the birth of Christ, there are a number of gorgeous picture books that retell the Nativity story. Every year we can also look forward to some brand new Christmas stories to delight children.

This year the biggest and brightest new Christmas picture book comes from James Patterson, a bestselling author whose name is usually associated with crime thrillers.

He has written two compelling (and inter-connected) love stories: Suzanne's Diary for Nicolas and Sam's Letter to Jennifer. Now that he has a young son, Patterson decided it was time for him to write a children's book that celebrates the joy of Christmas.

Chrissie Claus, the young daughter of Santa Claus, is the spunky, determined heroine of Santa Kid. She loves living at the North Pole where she spends every day at Santa's Toy Workshop. The reindeer and the elves, together with the Christmas doves and mice, are her friends and together they help her dad create toys for the world's children.

Just like children everywhere, Chrissie has lots of questions about Christmas. For example, how can Santa remember where every single kid lives to deliver the right presents? Chrissie is also amazed that her dad can fit all the presents on just one sleigh.

Santa Claus just smiles at Chrissy's questions and tells that she just has "to believe in something bigger than yourself".

Then one day the ferocious Vernon Ransom, the big boss of the Exmas Express
Company, arrives at the North Pole and announces that he and his company are taking over. Suddenly Santa, the elves and the reindeer are simply employees of a multi-national company.

Workers from the Exmas Express Company move into Santa's workshop and terrible new toys are created. To make matters even worse, production falls behind and it becomes clear that there won't be enough toys available for all the world's children.

Poor Santa is so distressed that he takes to his bed and he even tells Chrissie that he doesn't believe in Christmas anymore. Chrissie, however, refuses to give in to despair and she comes up with a plan to save Christmas. In the best tradition of
Christmas stories, once again a small child proves that being little need not stop you from achieving great things.

The crisp digital pictures by award-winning illustrator Michael Garland are bold and beautiful, perfectly capturing both the heart-warming message and the humour in the storyline. A detachable poster is an added bonus.

Whitcoulls Corner Store at 210 Queen St, Auckland, has turned Santa Kid into an extraordinary window extravaganza. All the main street windows have been dedicated to displaying scenes from Santa Kid, complete with lights, snow and moving parts. So if you are in Auckland check out the Santa Kid windows, just beneath the giant Santa who dominates Queen St.

Publisher: Hodder Headline

Price: $29.99

Age: 4-plus

Recommended by: Dorothy Vinicombe