‘’Mother says there’s no such thing as Santa Claus or any of the other silly things children are told in make-believe.’’

To hear these words from the mouth of a child is so sad...During my first year as a teacher, back in 2007, one of the very first difficult moments was a child’s exclamation that ‘’we were all idiots’’ because there is no Santa Claus (or Agios Vassilis as we call him in Greece). To my relief, all the other children disagreed but he vehemently insisted. His parents had told him that the entire Christmas story is only an old-fashioned fairy tale. Well, what can I say? Idiots are everywhere along with party-poopers.

Miracle on 34th Street is one of the most beloved Christmas stories, especially in the USA, and needs no introduction. Santa Claus has to prove he is actually the real deal because of a grumpy man’s complaints. And a young woman has to learn to believe in magic. The beautiful, moving story that has kept company to generations is brilliantly ‘’revived’’ in this picture book through cozy, vivid illustrations that evoke a warm, traditional feeling and will remind you of all those children’s book that used to be so impressive in their simplicity and elegance. The text and the dialogue are suitable for young children. This is a wonderful way to travel to the old Christmas days when everything was true…

P.S. Needless to say the child’s parents were not the life of the party, I was not sad to see them leave our school as they thought our teaching methods encouraged children to ‘’live in a fantasy world.’’

Many thanks to Sourcebooks Jabberwocky and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review

My reviews can also be found on https://theopinionatedreaderblog.wordpress.com ( )

This is one of my favorite Christmas stories ever. And I have to give the translator credit because they did a good job translating movie to picture book. And while they did their job well, you just can’t beat the movie. The original movie of course, not any other editions. For this case, the movie is and will always be better. ( )