Illustrated by S.D. Schindler
(Aladdin Paperbacks, 2002)
To be perfectly honest, I’ve never contemplated Santa’s
employment history. I’ve never even thought of a pre-Santa Santa. Could it be
that the guy was just a regular Nick? S.D. Schindler’s first illustration of
Santa as a young man is indeed startling. He’s a red-headed, beardless,
relatively trim guy, dressed in green pants and a brown jacket. (Yes, the red
tie and red socks hint of things to come, but this is still radical imagery for
a reader who has had only one view of Santa his entire life! It is nice to have
things shaken up every half century or so.)
The story begins, as the title suggests, with a young Santa
on the job hunt. It comes as yet another shock to discover that this affable,
beloved icon couldn’t hold down a job in the early days.
Chimney sweep? Canned. Apparently, he was TOO skilled,
shimmying into chimneys and cleaning ‘em up without a trace of soot on his
clothes. Where was the proof that he’d done any work at all?!
As a postal delivery worker, he hated getting stuck in city
traffic and chose to do his runs when streets were deserted in the middle of
the night. Way back then, some people didn’t take kindly to signing for parcels
at 3 a.m. Fired again. Humph.
As I read this story to forty children, they quickly picked
up on the fact that Santa’s employment challenges could become assets in a
career for which he was uniquely qualified. Why, of course, being Santa Claus
was what the jolly old man was born to be!
Of all Stephen Krensky’s musings about Santa’s little known
backstory, my favorite involves Santa’s circus days when he laughs too heartily
being shot out of a cannon. Kids will love the entire tale. Adults can also take
heart the next time they have to consider a career change. If it took Santa
awhile to finally get it right, we can cut ourselves some slack, too!
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