Kids into Books: Christmas Sonata

Author: Gary Paulsen

Illustrator: Leslie Bowman

Publisher: Macmillan, $13.95

Age Group: 8-10 years

"I thought Santa Claus lived at the North Pole and had reindeer, and now Mr Henderson says he's him. Is that right?"

"Not really, punkin. Sometimes stores will hire somebody at Christmas to pretend he is Santa Claus so that children can talk to him -"

"But there is only supposed to be one Santa Claus, isn't there?"

"Yes, but ..."

And of course it didn't matter after that, didn't matter what she said. It was done. Santa Claus was ruined, was gone, and I knew he didn't exist and that I had been lied to and there had never been a Santa Claus.

I cried some and Mother sat with me for a time on the couch that felt like a carpet and had flowers on it, and she said some things about Mr Henderson that weren't very nice.

But it didn't change what I had seen or knew and I would probably have spent the rest of my childhood and perhaps the whole life not believing in Santa Claus.