Santa Claws

This book was written more than a decade after "Nightmare Before Christmas" and so the theme is not a new one, but the rhymes and illustrations are superb [there is so much detail on each page, on the back paper cover and inside the front cover] and well worth the addition to your holiday library. I bought many copies at Powell's Bookstore in Portland for a very reduced price; every year I give a new Christmas book to my grandchildren and they enjoyed this book tremendously. I also bought them "Good-Night Goon" - it's become my 3 year old granddaughter's favorite book regardless of the season! Lemony Snicket's "The Lump of Coal" is also a great off kilter addition to your Christmas selections, if your tastes run in that direction.

I purchased this book along with several others along the same vane for my Grand Daughters. age 2 and 4 to eventually enjoy as I know they will. I am their Gran Pa and are really looking forward to reading it to them when they are old enough. Great illustrations which go great with a twist of the tale....

I LOVE THE ART OF GRIS GRIMLY!!!!!!!!!!!!I HAVE ALL HIS BOOKS!!!!!THIS ONE IS THE BEST SO FAR!!!!!CHILDREN WILL ALSO LOVE IT!!!!IT IS A BOOK FOR ALL AGES!!!!!!

Santa Claws offers weary holiday readers a gruesome Nightmare Before Christmas like alternative to the standard holiday fare. In this little tale we meet Mack & Zack two eager monster children preparing for Christmas and Santa (in his blood red suite and snake in his boot) will be along shortly. These boys are prepared, they've hung their smelly socks by the fire with care, the oozing blistertoe is hung, and the dead pine trees decorated and ready to go! Young readers will love this morbid little tale fully of macabre Christmas cheer...the only drawback is that it's extremely brief...there is minimal text and while the art is lovingly drawn and detail rich, the nearly monochromatic watercolor illustrations may not be well received by younger readers...but I think older kids (4-8) will get a kick out of this and it's something that beginner readers should have no trouble with at all. An added bonus are the "ads" on the endpapers...for gruesome things like Ear Wax Furniture Polish, Sludge Hair Dressing for Men, and Dog Breath Mouth Wash...it's a cute touch that I think kids will really enjoy! I give it four stars...I simply wish there was more of this gruesome little holiday story!