Very much a miss, this clumsily and amateurishly tells us of a master toy maker, and how he gained two apprentices from an orphanage. The master – and then one of the kids that have grown to be his partners – die off, and then come back as 'angels' to make the surviving bloke ignore all his life and wishes, decamp to the North Pole (well, a valley thereabouts), hitch up with a fit bird, and become Santa, replete with elves and reindeer etc. The problem is, any young reader chancing upon this to read knows this isn't how it happened, and the greater problem is, any young reader chancing upon this knows this is not how to write – or illustrate – a children's book. It's clunky through and through. Oh, and the first elves we meet are called Pinnacle Niche and Regina Gayla, and if greater markers of a book's quality – or lack thereof – exist I don't know of them. Sorry, scratch that – there's a later picture of the happy couple where it looks to all intents and purposes as if Mrs Santa has lobbed a boob out of her wedding dress.

What we do learn is that characters at the North Pole bake hot cross buns, so that explains why they're in stores already come Christmas time. But this, sad to say, is a lesson in how not to do things. One and a half stars.

I am, as ever, a little late. I received this from NetGalley, but wanted to wait for the correct seasonal feel.

This has a bit of an issue with formatting, but I was able to get through it, and the writing is easy to read and without typos. The book does feature artwork throughout, but the style isn’t always the same, and some of them are actually almost creepy when they aren’t meant to be.

This is a reimagining of the story of Santa Claus. It starts with an immigrant toy maker and his toy shop. He eventually adopts two orphans that have good carving skills, and makes them his apprentices. One of the children ends up being Santa. The strange thing to me with the story though, is that it almost seems to not be about Santa at all. His real name is John Nicholas, and things happen around him, and he just kind of becomes Santa. He’s not really the whimsical, saintly guy we’ve come to think of. He does deliver toys to the children of the world, however it wasn’t even his idea or plan.

I did find enjoyment in this story, but the writing style felt more like note taking/plot points rather then the telling of an actual story. Also with some of the content and the way it’s written, I’m not even sure what the age group it’s aiming for is. Personally a 3/5*.

Two orphan boys, Benjamin Timmons and John Nicholas are adopted by a toymaker, Rudolph Stern, in 1820, as they show talent in woodwork. They apprentice Stern, a kind and giving man, and become journeymen, on their way to becoming master craftsmen. One day, Mr. Stern passes away of a heart attack, and not long after, Benjamin dies from a cholera epidemic and John is left to run the toy making business by himself.

John is visited by the spirits of Ben and Rudolph and told of a workshop at the North Pole just for him. When he arrives he encounters magical elves, animals that ha can talk to and who can talk to him, and Jessica ... the manager of the castle where he will live.

Everything will come together, with Rudolph and Benjamin's oversight from beyond, to have John Nicholas become Santa Claus, and Jessica, his wife.

I was quite disappointed in this and I'm not entirely sure who the target audience is. It's not a picture book, it's not an easy reader, and yet it's too 'simple' for most readers.

Although it's only 83 pages, we spend too much time going through the early life and growth as toymakers of the orphan boys. Frankly, Benjamin isn't needed in this story at all. He's a major character who dies early.

On the surface, the book would seem to be leading up to the 'creation' of the familiar Santa Claus who delivers toys around the world, but actually this is a lead up to John marrying Jessica ... although we (and John) are told this will happen about a quarter of the way into the story. Why?

I understand the attempt to pull a lot of the various myths, legends, and stories together but it's too much. It's the author trying to be clever rather than telling an interesting story.

The book is lightly illustrated and these illustrations do not help. They are not high quality or cute, and again, who is this book for? The drawings are too simple for any child who can read the book, and not interesting enough for an adult reading to a child to turn the book around to show the art.

Looking for a good book? Santa Claus: The Beginning by Terry Broxson is definitely not a book for me, my children, or my grandchildren. Probably not for yours either.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

This story is about how Santa Claus came about. We start by meeting Benjamin and John two young boys that are being taught how to make toys and about the toy shop business. I also liked that the author did include Mrs Claus and the reindeers in this story
I enjoyed the story and I think kids around 9-12 will enjoy reading it.
This would make a great story to read to your children before Christmas to help everyone get in the holiday spirit. Thank you netgalley

I think this was a wonderful book!
I love Christmas books and this is a great twist of how Christmas originated. I especially enjoyed the mix of traditional Christmas stories, like Rudolph with this new creative story!

Thank you net galley for this Arc copy for me to read. The cover of the book is absolutely beautiful and stunning and the cover is what draw me to this book. I really enjoyed this story about how Santa became about and the story kept me hocked from the very beginning to the end it’s told so well and told so meaningful any one who reads this book will fall in love with Christmas. The illustrations in this book I really like them all and they are done so beautifully and they really make the book as they fitted into the story at the right moment. This is such a magical and wonderful book. Xxx

A brilliant Christmas book early, loved the writing style and kept me entertained throughout, very good

To begin, although this is categorized as a Children’s Fiction / Middle Grade read, this isn’t really a story aimed at children, or rather it is, but I question if this would appeal to Middle Grade readers.

This begins with the story of a toy maker, Mr. Stern, who is introduced to two boys, Ben and John, who were twelve, residing in the <i>’Hanover Home for Boys</i>. Despite their relatively young age, these two boys have a talent for doing wood carvings, and he tells Father Sullivan he wishes to adopt them, letting him know that he plans to teach them a trade. As a toy maker, he hopes to help them better their craft. Not only does he help them, but they exceed his expectations.

Years later, after the passing of both Ben and Mr. Stern, John wakes up to see Ben sitting in a chair telling John he’s come to visit him to share an important message of a mission he’s been chosen for. He has been chosen to be the first Santa.

This story of <i>’the beginning’</i> of Santa Claus also includes the ‘introduction’ of Mrs. Claus as the story continues and has some charming moments, and several lovely illustrations that would appeal to young children.

Pub Date: 07 Nov 2023


Many thanks for the ARC provided by Atmosphere Press

Every year I read a few christmas books, it's my favourite time of the year and I genuinely live for its magic. This was in no way what I hoped for.
First of all the cover is really pretty, it looks magical. The drawing inside are made on computer, terribly bland. Some of them look completely out of place, some are collages that could have been made on paint by a 5 year old. I wonder if maybe they've been found on google free of rights. Either way, most of them do not fit in with the story and do not give the right vibe at all.
As to the story, I don't understand what was its point and oh my lord is it poorly written in every way possible.
It's very jumbled, we have both too much information and too little. The author tells us everything instead of letting us imagine some and what should be magical sounds like a list.
In this book Santa is picked for his toy making abilities and on a drunken night, brought to the north pole by a familiar ghost figure (someone read Dickens) and told in the most blunt way that he now lives here, this is his castle, the woman in front of him will be his wife and he's going to be Santa Claus from now on, someone uses pixie dust to make him fall in love with the woman and they get married, the end. Even their love is fabricated. There's no natural devellopment, no element of surprise and the characters are so 2D it hurts.
This is one of the most awful things I've read in a long time, its only redeeming quality is that it was short.

2.5 stars

I do love a Santa origin story and so I was looking forward to this but it fell a bit flat for me.

Let's start with the positives. It does put the reader in a festive mood, and does offer what you want from a Christmas book: love, family, toys, elves, food, wishes, reindeer, Santa, and magic. For what it is, it is quite sweet.

However.

It is very simplistic, a bit "tell the reader rather than show them", but I suppose that's to be expected from a children's book. I usually enjoy children's books, as they contain that added magic that adult books don't, but this is definitely one for young children, there just isn't enough to entertain older children or adults.

I wasn't sure of the illustrations. They were a bit strange, and I couldn't decide if they were genuine or if it was meant to be a bit of a parody of Santa origin books sadly. I just couldn't fit it into a particular category. And considering it is about Santa, it isn't that Christmassy.

There just wasn't a lot of substance. For all that was promised in the synopsis, I felt it was a bit flat.