Holly Claus an Intricate Christmas Fairy Tale

The Santa Claus of legend devotes his life to creating and distributing gifts to children, granting wishes penned in earnest letters. But in the midst of all his charitable activity, might Santa ever stop and make a wish of his own? And who could make such a dream become reality? These are ruminations that propel Holly Claus: The Christmas Princess, written by Brittney Ryan and illustrated by Laurel Long and Jeffrey K. Bedrick.

In this eloquent, fanciful fairy tale in the Julie Andrews Collection, one young boy has the wisdom and selflessness to write to Santa asking what he would like for Christmas and promising he will do his best to see that he gets it. Out of this remarkable letter is born Holly Claus, beloved Princess of the land of Forever, where Santa lives with the fairies and magic folk and those mortals whose names have been inscribed in the Book of Forever for various noble deeds.

This sweet, gentle child grows up in the company of several faithful arctic animals. Tundra the wolf serves as her guardian, while she also finds friendship with the funny penguin, Empy; the wise owl, Euphemia; and the mischievous fox, Lexy. Hers is a pleasant enough existence, but the world of Forever has grown sad because an attack from the evil Herrikhan has barricaded the country from the world of humans, preventing Santa from making his Christmas deliveries. When Holly discovers a way to sneak into that world, she finds herself in the bustling Empire City at the turn of the century and takes a job in a magnificent toy shop, which leads her to meet the very man whose childhood generosity brought about her existence and whose faith now could help Christmas to return.

There's a lot of text in this book, which seems to be geared toward pre-teens; the length and complexity would probably be prohibitive for especially young children. The illustrations are striking, rich in intricate details and with an elegant Victorian feel to them. There's an air of antiquity about the book, making it easy to imagine that this story actually is a century old, as we are intended to believe. The tale prickles with enchantment, hinting at the far deeper development in the novel of which this is an abridgement. Though at times it seems as though there are slight gaps, for the most part, the story works on its own.

One unique aspect of this book is the inclusion of an address for Holly Claus so that children can write to her just as they write to her father year after year. While I think such a desire would be more likely from someone who had invested in the novel and really gotten to know the character thoroughly and that children old enough to tackle a 500-page book probably wouldn't have much interest in writing to someone they know doesn't exist, it's still a neat idea and the perfect finishing touch on a lovely, mythical story.