Real Santa

This title was previously available on NetGalley and is now archived.
Buy on Amazon Buy on BN.com Buy on Bookshop.org
*This page contains affiliate links, so we may earn a small commission when you make a purchase through links on our site at no additional cost to you.
Send NetGalley books directly to your Kindle or Kindle app

1
To read on a Kindle or Kindle app, please add kindle@netgalley.com as an approved email address to receive files in your Amazon account. Click here for step-by-step instructions.
2
Also find your Kindle email address within your Amazon account, and enter it here.
Pub Date 01 Oct 2014 | Archive Date 28 Aug 2015
Köehler Books | Koehler Books

Description

George Kronenfeldt is an unemployed engineer with one shot to keep his daughters belief in Santa intact. When Megan tells him the only way she will believe in Santa is if she can videotape him and then tells her fourth grade class she will prove the existence of Santa Claus by posting her video to YouTube, George realizes he must become the Real Santa. He devises a plan to land nine reindeer on his roof and go down his chimney, hiring a broken down movie director who eventually has him funding a full scale production that bankrupts him and threatens his marriage. When George goes to find the “Real Santa” to help him, the line between what is real and magic is crossed. Real Santa is a funny heartwarming story of parenthood gone wrong and illuminates what lengths parents will go to keep their children happy.

George Kronenfeldt is an unemployed engineer with one shot to keep his daughters belief in Santa intact. When Megan tells him the only way she will believe in Santa is if she can videotape him and...


A Note From the Publisher

Author Bio:
William Hazelgrove is the best-selling author of five novels; Ripples, Tobacco Sticks, Mica Highways, Rocket Man, and The Pitcher. His books have received starred reviews in Publishers Weekly, Book of the Month Selections, Junior Library Guild Selections, Booklist Editors Choice Awards, and optioned for the movies. He was the Ernest Hemingway Writer in Residence where he wrote in the attic of Ernest Hemingway’s birthplace. He has written articles and reviews for USA Today and other publications and has been featured in The New York Times, LA Times, Chicago Tribune, and on All Things Considered. He runs a political cultural blog, The View from Hemingway’s Attic. He lives in Chicago. A new novel, Jack Pine, will be released in April, 2015 and The Pitcher 2: Seventh Inning Stretch is due to be released in August, 2015..

Author Bio:
William Hazelgrove is the best-selling author of five novels; Ripples, Tobacco Sticks, Mica Highways, Rocket Man, and The Pitcher. His books have received starred reviews in Publishers...


Advance Praise

MOVIE RIGHTS SOLD! Vicki Rocco of Modern Family optioned the movie rights of William Hazelgrove's Real Santa for her production company Small But Mighty Productions with an eye to a feature or a made for television movie. Ms. Rocco has to her credits, Modern Family, Arrested Development, Stand and Deliver, U23D, Empire Dreams, Heather, Britany Spears Live, and sees Real Santa as a classic that will pull in people hungry for a new take on the Christmas movie. "No one has done this. No one has taken on the physics of being Santa Claus. It is funny and heartwarming and has all the things we look for in any great Christmas movie."

“Hazelgrove marries the everyday dramas found in the novels of Tom Perrotta and Nick Hornby to the high camp of Carl Hiaasen or Dave Barry ... adults looking for a funny, holiday-themed tale that doesn’t lose its sense of wonder in the face of realism will find a treat here. A lovingly crafted comedy about the madness that fatherhood inspires.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Hazelgrove’s lively, improbable narrative will appeal to readers in the mood for holiday fiction.” —Publishers Weekly

“If somebody doesn’t make a movie out of this book, there’s something wrong with the world. Beautifully done.” —Booklist Starred Review

MOVIE RIGHTS SOLD! Vicki Rocco of Modern Family optioned the movie rights of William Hazelgrove's Real Santa for her production company Small But Mighty Productions with an eye to a feature or a made...


Available Editions

EDITION Paperback
ISBN 9781938467943
PRICE $16.95 (USD)

Average rating from 23 members


Featured Reviews

Was this review helpful?

I'm not one for Christmas stories, but as a parent I was intrigued but the idea of a dad desperately trying to persuade his child that Santa exists by going the whole hog and pretending to be him on Christmas Eve, reindeer, sleigh, costume, chimney and all.

George Kronenfeldt is an engineer, one who loses his job two weeks before Christmas for not being able to work well with others. His nine-year-old daughter Megan is just at the point of giving up in her beliefs regarding Santa Claus (mostly due to her bitter, about-to-retire teacher). After failing badly to cope with this situation by the two children from his first marriage, the engineer with time in his hands decides he's going to plan out a Christmas Eve where Megan will film the Real Santa and keep her childhood dream alive a little longer. Will his bank balance and second marriage survive this insane project? can he pull it off?

It all starts fairly sensibly, with engineer-like plans, schemes and lists. But as real (defecating) reindeer, a movie director and special effects and a towering pair of ramps become part of the plan, the insanity of George's plan becomes clear. And yet - what wouldn't you do for your own children?

I had a lot of fun reading this in the weeks before Christmas. George is a bit of an eccentric, but I liked the history we learned about his previous marriage and kids (even if the daughter is absolutely foul). Megan needed more screentime, a great young scientific brain who is the catalyst for the book but doesn't get quite enough to say. her evil teacher is great, screen villain with her own messed-up memories guiding her judgements.

The idea fuels the book. It's not going to win literary awards but it is a great look at parenting, belief, and how our childhoods can affect our adult lives.

I loved seeing George's plans come together and just had to see how it turned out, if Megan filmed her dad and didn't realise, if the reindeer broke the roof, if George made it down the chimney.

Great idea and the ending, while a little convenient, suits the material pretty well. I can guess that this has been written with a mind to turn it into a film (there is self-referential material here pointing that way) and it would actually make a fantastic seasonal and heart-warming comedy.

It did make me think about how I'm going to cope when my son reaches the stage of doubt, both how I'll feel about that magic period being over and how we will broach it. But I don't think I'll do a George!

Review of a NetGalley e-copy.

Was this review helpful?

Recently fired George sets out to prove to his daughter that Santa is real. He risks life and limb, not to mention bankruptcy in his quest. Along the way he must battle several embittered people whose hearts are several sizes too small.

Cute Christmas story.

Was this review helpful?

Enjoyable. Quick read. I hope the movie is good.

Was this review helpful?

Readers who liked this book also liked: