Kids books add reason to the season

To add reason to the season, reading holiday fare together can be

among the best presents Mom and Dad can give the kids.

Ever wonder how one of the icons of Christmas found his calling?

Head for the picture book section of your nearest Newport Beach

Public Library to learn about the career path of the jolly old elf in

“How Santa Got His Job.”

In this delightful read-aloud tale, Stephen Krensky serves up a

resume for the bearded gift-bringer that explains how past experience

prepared Santa to perform his amazing feats. Looking back on his

stints as a chimney sweep, postal worker, short-order cook and

zookeeper, the author of more than 50 children’s books provides

amusing fodder for a discussion about Santa, job skills and careers.

The saga continues in “How Santa Lost His Job.” In another slyly

humorous take on the professional life of the big guy in red,

downsizing threatens the North Pole as the elves pit Santa against an

automated, present-delivery solution. Yet something’s missing in the

hi-tech approach, and the importance of human touch in holiday

rituals becomes clear in the end.

Lawrence David questions another seasonal tradition in “Peter

Claus and the Naughty List.” Challenging the fairness of the

nice-naughty list system, Santa’s son Peter devises a plan to outwit

the practice. Taking matters (and the sleigh reins) into his own

hands, he figures out how to let fellow “naughties” know that there’s

an easy route to redemption.

“Christmas Eve is over in a second,” laments Anna to her brother

Henry in Bjorn Sortland’s “The Dream Factory.” Proving the holiday

doesn’t have to end so prematurely, Uncle Paul offers them a present

wrapped in a riddle.

The two head up to the attic to find it, only to be whisked into a

world of classic cinema, where they ride in Ben Hur’s chariot, swing

through the jungle with Tarzan and join the March Hare at an

un-birthday party. With abundant fantasy young children will enjoy,

and motion picture lore for an older audience, there’s something for

everyone in this holiday adventure.

Christmas comes at the end of the story in an updated, newly

illustrated edition of Otto and Priscilla Friedrich’s 1957 classic,

“The Easter Bunny That Overslept.” The perennial favorite about a

frustrated bunny who finds himself delivering eggs on Mother’s Day,

the Fourth of July and Halloween makes it clear that even holiday

heroes can make mistakes. And when Santa finds Bunny a job making

toys and hopping in and out of chimneys, we’re reminded of the true

reason for the holiday season.

* CHECK IT OUT is written by the staff of the Newport Beach

Public Library. This week’s column is by Melissa Adams, in

collaboration with Gina Moffitt. All titles may be reserved from home

or office computers by accessing the catalog at

www.newportbeachlibrary.org.