Daddy's Surprise Christmas (Creative Child Press Christmas Tales)

ISBN 0866113347 - Always happy to find books to add to my Christmas collection, and especially happy to find stories I haven't read over and over, Daddy's Surprise Christmas was a pleasant find and fits into my collection perfectly. Bryan is very sad that his father has little time to spend with him, so when he gets a call and dashes off, Bryan stows away on the trip. They reach their destination before Bryan is found and the surprise is on everyone - no one was expecting Bryan and Bryan definitely wasn't expecting see his father standing there with Santa Claus! Bryan's dad is a famous scientist and Santa has a problem with his new sleigh. The adults have no time to spare and Bryan is left to his own devices. Boredom leads him to discover the answer to the problem: it's not the sleigh, it's the reindeer. They're sad that Santa has no time to spend with them! That's taken care of and Christmas is saved. One complaint: Bryan's father must leave immediately and the next sentence begins "An hour later, a special limousine was there..." That's just bad writing. The illustrations are all right, not dynamite. One nice note which many young kids (those who can't tell time) might not catch: the time on the clock changes in every picture, which gives a clue to how many hours poor Bryan's been bored. It's a nice little book and definitely getting a spot on my shelf. - AnnaLovesBooks