SEEKING A SANTA
by Angela DiTerlizzi ; illustrated by Allie Smith
Rhyming text and playful art provide a list of all the qualities that make up “a Santa.”
“I’m seeking a Santa and everyone knows / Your eyes must be bright with red cheeks and red nose.” So begins the recounting of Santa’s aspects. Four elves (two white with blond and red hair respectively and two brown-skinned, with brown hair and freckles and black hair, respectively), cold-climate animals (including some evidently lost penguins), and other Christmas-y icons dramatize each of St. Nick’s qualities. The bold images pop with a retro, 1950s-advertising sensibility in poster-paint reds and greens. The rhymes scan with a pleasing rhythm. When Santa is finally shown, it is a very traditional representation of the bespectacled, old white elf in signature suit and hat. The companion title, Seeking a Witch, follows the same formula with various monsters, ghouls, and Halloween critters reciting a green-skinned, purple-haired witch’s attributes. While the reveals on the last double-page spreads are a little anticlimactic (they are both on the small side), these scenes make up for it in enthusiasm.
While nothing new, there is enough to engage celebratory tykes.
(Board book. 1-3)