Little Santa by Yoko Maruyama (review)

Our narrator has a secret: his dad is Santa Claus. When Dad breaks his ankle the day before Christmas and has to go to the hospital, the boy realizes that only he can step into his father's place. It's an adventurous ride ("Flying the sleigh took some getting used to") and some hard work, but he manages to get every present delivered; he's puzzled then to find the reindeer taking him to one more house. There he finds that a little girl has asked only for snow; that's beyond his powers, but fortunately Santa comes back from the hospital just in time with a special snowy delivery from the North Pole, so the girl gets her wish—and so does the narrator, who gets to spend Christmas Eve with his dad for once. While the book gets a little overcomplicated with the little girl's mysterious situation (and where is everybody else in Santa's village?), the story of a kid leaping into Santa's place and then ending up with special time with his dad is a gentle crowd-pleaser. Soft pastels with a few touches of paint keep the outing dreamy, and Maruyama's smooth, uncluttered compositions make the most of touches of humor, whether it be the boy in his father's Santa outfit or the crowd of curious reindeer rising to their hind legs to look through the window into Santa's house. Young believers can appreciate this as a sweet "what if" while relating to the story's emotional core of parent-child togetherness. DS