Santa's secret by Mike Dumbleton
Ill. by Tom Jellett. Random House, 2012. ISBN 9781 74275239 6.
(Age: 4+) Recommended. Picture book. Christmas. Humour. After a hard
day's work delivering presents all over the world on Christmas Eve,
Santa is exhausted, but what keeps him going will surprise younger
readers, as he doffs his warmer northern hemisphere clothing and
gets into a wonderful pineapple designed shirt and shorts and heads
for Australia. On the way he practices his Australian speech, and
when he lands, feels into the back of the sleigh to bring out his
expected gift, a surfboard. He dons his wetsuit and heads for the
beach, catching wave after wave in the little sun drenched bay
around which are perched a community of shacks. Jellett has lovingly
recreated an Australian Christmas, with children happily surfing and
swimming, the shore line stretching around the cove, with the little
shacks and caravans fenced from the beach. The illustrations reflect
many such communities along the coast, recalling for me many happy
summers at Aldoinga Beach and Lady Bay. The detail of the little
coastal community is intriguing and draws the eye to look further,
spotting the rainwater tank, iron roof, Weber bbq, thongs and so on.
The large old bewhiskered man surfing attracts many onlookers, not
least the many children cavorting in the sea. When at last Santa
retires to his own small shack, complete with tyre swans at the
steps, he gives his surfboard to the kids, knowing that next year he
will have another in his bag of presents.
A lovely story to present to children at Christmas, this one is
redolent of the celebration in the southern hemisphere, and not a
Christmas tree or plum pudding in sight. It makes a welcome change
from the cliched presentation of Christmas, and gives a class much
to discuss about sharing and giving, peculiarly Australian words,
and how they spend their Christmas.
Fran Knight