I Am Santa! by
Kristy Haile is inspired by the true story of her 4 year old son, Ty, referred
to as Nicholas in the book, whom after meeting a Santa-for-Hire at a shopping
mall, is bequeathed the honorable status of becoming the new Santa. You may or may not believe in Santa, and you
certainly may not believe this young boy is the “new Santa,” but to Nicholas,
he is Santa, and you can’t shake his belief. Based on true events occurring to
Nicholas, his sister Holly, the parents, grandparents, friends and classmates, I Am Santa! unfolds a clever storyline
for children and captures the imagination of all that read this book.
Just as Superman is only “super” when wearing his caped
outfit, Nicholas wears his Santa costume each and every day, even sleeping in
it at night. During his dreams he’s busy
working with the elves, keeping current the “naughty or nice” list of all other
people -- a formidable task indeed. At first
his desire to wear the Santa outfit was appropriate, but as the Christmas
season dwindled to an end, the outfit was still a part of Nicholas’ daily dress
code. This lead to some whimsically
comical situations, such as the comment by an adult, “Hey kid, who do you think you are? Santa Claus?” Nicholas would
always answer in the affirmative, then warn, “You better watch out or else you’ll wind up on the naughty list,” totally disarming the adult and leaving him
speechless.
The Santa outfit, months after Christmas, became an issue
for the parents at times. In order to
squelch comments, Kristy wrote she would defend her son by saying, “Well, I didn’t know there was a dress code
for tonight. Besides he is getting ready
for next year. And actually it’s been
shown that parents should never impinge on their child’s imagination. A big imagination is actually a sign of an
above average intelligence.”
I Am Santa! is
ideal for a stocking stuffer for all children this Christmas season. The book has a light and loving flow to the
maternal narration, as you can tell just how much Kristy Haile enjoyed keeping
track of her son’s antidotes and writing the book. Adaptation into a holiday movie would
certainly be a fun evolution for this creative book, and given the true life
story and theatrical accolades of her son, he might even be able to play
“himself” – that is Santa, of course.
Buy this book at Barnes and Noble
and www.iamsantabook.com
