Santa Post by Emma Yarlett
Just five sleeps to go before Santa had to load his sleigh and make that once-a-year trip that brings so much delight to little people. But then down his chimney comes a late letter from Amy asking for a ????? Unfortunately, the most important words have been burnt out by the fire's embers and Santa has no idea what Amy has requested. Never before has he not delivered what a child wants and so he calls on his friends - Head Elf Elfalfa, Mr Polar Bear and the Chief Reindeer - to help but nothing they deliver quite fills the bill. What is Santa to do?
Reminiscent of the format of The Jolly Christmas Postman, this is an intriguing book with its flaps and letters to and from Santa - although they are firmly attached to the book as lift-the-flap pages - and young readers will have fun not only trying to work out what Amy might have asked for, but also investigating how Head Elf Elfalfa, Mr Polar Bear and the Chief Reindeer responded. How would they feel if they were Amy and received their suggestions on Christmas morning? If they were Santa, how would they solve the problem? And what might it be that Santa finally delivered?
Written in a variety of fonts that may be difficult for its intended audience to read independently, this is one to be shared between adult and child, perhaps as they snuggle down for the night.
This is one of the Post Bag series from this creator which includes Dragon Post, Monster Post, and the latest, Unicorn Post which were inspired by a childhood memory of her husband and which have all the elements that encourage young readers to want to read and revisit books in print. There is nothing quite like physically lifting a flap to discover what's hiding underneath. In this interview, she even challenges budding writers to create their own story.... "One morning, you find a magical creature on your doorstep that needs a new home. Write a letter to its new owner, telling them all about it, what it likes and doesn't like, and how they can become friends with their new magical pet."
Even though email and texts seem to be the most common way of communicating these days, nevertheless the magic of the traditional letter to Santa never seems to fade and using the examples in this book, there is much that can be used to teach children about structure and content of that format as they write their own letters to send. (Hopefully, their letters won't perplex Santa like Amy's did.)
https://youtu.be/qKdZmu0V_5A?
Themes: Santa Claus.
Barbara Braxton