Santa's Christmas Eve Surprise

Ted McGee is an associate professor of English at St. Jerome’s
College, University of Waterloo.

Santa’s Christmas Eve Surprise is about a new baby elf that Santa
discovers in his workshop. Sharon Danhelka’s illustrations, which are
in the tradition of folk art (ornate borders framing quaint settings
into which human figure blend), create the impression that one is
looking into a dollhouse, as the story’s Santa does when he hears “a
strange, strange noise” and discovers “a tiny, tiny, baby elf, / Who
[seems] to have lost his way.” Davina Turner’s text, which appears
on facing pages, looks as if it’s set on slightly frayed scrolls of
vellum. Despite some forced rhymes and repetitions resulting from its
stanzaic pattern, the story partakes of the charm of the mysterious
little people, who cry tears that create a rainbow of stardust, and who
find rest in Mrs. Claus’s “jewelry box, / Amid some white, white
floss.”

Unfortunately, the story does not live up to its initial promise: its
climax is anticlimactic (being merely the naming of baby Elfen Gelfen),
and its final stanza trails off into vague prospects of “many magical
times” to come. And though the illustrations effectively depict
Santa’s home and workshop, they fail to capture the strangeness of the
wondrous wee elf. Not a first-choice purchase.