Overview
Bestselling author Jerry Pallotta reveals how and why Santa Claus selected the perfect animals--reindeer--to pull his sleigh on Christmas Eve.Santa Claus has a big job to do on Christmas Eve, and he needs a team to help with the sleigh. He tries out a myriad of thirteen different kinds of animals, including tigers (but they almost eat him), mice (too weak), kangaroos (too jumpy), turtles (too slow), cheetahs (too fast), rhinos (too rough), and even monkeys (too playful). But what about... reindeer? Perfect!
This humorous peek behind the scenes at the North Pole is told in Jerry Pallotta's kid-friendly style and beautifully illustrated in glorious color by David Biedrzycki.
Synopsis
Santa Claus has a big job to do on Christmas Eve, and he needs a team to help with the sleigh. He tries out a myriad of thirteen different kinds of animals, including tigers (but they almost eat him), mice (too weak), kangaroos (too jumpy), turtles (too slow), cheetahs (too fast), rhinos (too rough), and even monkeys (too playful). But what about... reindeer? Perfect! This humorous peek behind the scenes at the North Pole is told in Jerry Pallotta's kid-friendly style and beautifully illustrated in glorious color by David Biedrzycki.
Children's Literature
In this humorous book, Santa attempts to use various animals to guide and pull the sleigh. "I tried tigers. They played too rough. They almost ate me!" He tries mice, penguins, dolphins, giraffes, skunks, kangaroos, among others, and settles on the traditional reindeer. Text and illustrations combine to show how some animals prove unsuitable. Giraffes get caught in power lines. Monkeys peek at Santa's underwear, which is printed with candy canes. Mrs. Claus will not allow bunnies, since they are for Easter. Santa falls asleep when pulled by turtles. When pulled by cheetahs, he is only a blur. A mouse accompanies Santa in his trials. With minimal text, the pictures tell the story. Children and parents will be tickled with Santa's predicaments. After having the book read a few times, children will begin to recognize the fun words and phrases such as "Splash," "Oh! No!" "Hop! Hop! Hop!" "Oops," and "Yahoo!"