Reviewed by: BigAl
Genre: Christmas
Approximate word count: 30-35,000 words
Availability
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on a YES above to go to appropriate page in Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or
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Author:
A lawyer
and CPA, author Scott Roloff lives with his family in Texas. He also has a
novel, Dreams of Dusk, and a small
short story collection, Short Stories for
the Hopeful and the Weary, available.
Description:
“The Innkeeper of Bethlehem will permit
you and your family to enjoy Santa Claus and the other secular customs of
Christmas within the Christian celebration of Jesus’s birth. For little
children, Santa Claus becomes a real person delivering presents to them from
Jesus. Each Christmas season, reading a chapter a night will become a holiday
tradition for the entire family.”
Appraisal:
This book
is designed to be read a chapter each night starting on December 6th and
finishing on Christmas Eve. Although you can certainly read it alone and don’t
have to spread it out in the lead up to Christmas, it is especially suited for
a parent or older child to read it aloud for younger children. The sentences
tend to be short (ideal for not running out of breath reading aloud), but it
uses some words that wouldn’t be in the reading vocabulary of younger children.
There are
two story arcs, interleaved together. One, the story of a family who is sitting
down each night, being told a story by Uncle Aaron. The other, the story he’s
telling. It felt like each chapter had a life lesson that would be beneficial
to a child. I could imagine each chapter could generate a discussion about what
might be learned from that evening’s reading.
The
majority of the book is roughly based on the life of Jesus as commonly told,
with a lot of additional story added by the author. The last few chapters
introduce Santa Claus and integrates the typical elements of the Santa myth
into the story of Jesus. All the pieces fit and I like the life lessons that
are part of the story. For families who are the logical target readers for this
book, I’d say go for it. There’s the rub. I struggle to imagine who those
readers might be.
If I
imagine the spectrum of possible beliefs and how someone at different points on
this spectrum might react, striking off those who would object to something in
this story, I’m not sure how much is left. Non-believers, whether atheist or
believers in a non-Christian religion, are out. In spite of the secular Santa
Claus getting a visible mention in the title, this is definitely a Christian
book. Those on the other end of the spectrum who believe Jesus was a real
person and that The Bible is literal,
I imagine having issues with mixing too much “fiction” in with what they
consider truth, for fear of confusing their children as to which is which. I’d
expect even a decent portion of those Christians who consider the story of Jesus
a myth rather than literal will have concerns mixing the traditional part of
this story with the new parts. For those who aren’t concerned, this may be the
book for you.
Format/Typo Issues:
A small
number of typos and proofing errors.
Rating: **** Four stars
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