Santa’s
Favorite Story
By Hisako Aoki and Ivan Gantschev
Review by: Yvonne
Gaudet
When the forest animals find
Santa Claus sleeping under a tree they think Christmas is coming early.
Santa tells them that he was out exercising in order to be in shape to
deliver presents and he became tired and needed a rest. This makes them
wonder if Santa will be able to deliver his presents on Christmas Eve,
and they become alarmed. They wonder if there might not be a Christmas
this year. This is when Santa tells them that Christmas has nothing to
do with him and he proceeds to tell them of the first Christmas. He
tells them how an angel appeared to some shepherds in a field, and how
the angel said "Be not afraid, today the Christ Child has been
born. God has sent His Son to show what God’s love is like." The
shepherds follow the star towards where the Baby Jesus lay, in a manger,
in a stable. The shepherds knew that this was the Son of God, so they
knelt down and prayed.
Santa tells
this story to the animals and explains to them that God gave us His Son
as a gift, and that this ‘first’ gift is far greater then any gift
Santa could ever deliver. He then puts his hands into his pockets and
waits for a response from the forest animals. Finally Fox says that he
feels foolish for thinking that Christmas was all about presents. Then
Santa and all the animals hurry toward his house to prepare for
Christmas Eve. When Christmas Day came and Santa had finished his work,
he sat around the fire with his new friends and told the Christmas story
to them again. All the while Santa remembered that Christmas itself is
the greatest gift of all.
I recommend
this story for the ages of four to ten. The illustrator, Ivan Gantschev,
uses watercolor pictures to create the mood of this story. A cute book
to read to your class to remind them about the true meaning of
Christmas.
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Now
