Santa Doesn’t Need Your Help

Gr 1-4–It’s Christmas Eve, and Santa’s workshop is crashed by a boy band that wants to help Santa with Christmas. However, Santa is getting tired of everyone thinking he’s too old and needs help doing his job. He decides that he is doing Christmas by himself this year, to prove that there’s nothing wrong with him. Maher has thrown a comedic twist on the old idea of “What if Santa was replaced?” with a lengthy tale of Santa learning that it’s okay to get help. The rhyming is catchy and keeps the pace of the long story going, although younger readers might struggle with the length. The text includes some advanced vocabulary words and jokes that only older students and adults will understand. Some of the gags rely on Dator’s illustrations, which depict funny references to pop culture icons. The illustrations also show a nice contrast between Santa’s thoughts throughout the story and what is actually happening as everyone frets in the background. The artwork never takes over the text, which stays visible throughout the frenzied tale. Maher and Dator have created a Christmas tale of Santa and all of his helpers with a lesson for anyone who reads it, young and old.