Nathan Christopher’s 2025 When Santa Wrote Back! is well-intentioned, with a clear premise: a boy named Jake writes Santa, and Santa writes back. When he does, he coaches Jake in the right Christmas spirit, nudging him to be less greedy and think more of others. The pair continue to write back and forth, and at one point, Jake suggests Santa take a vacation.
Santa agrees, and gives Jake the (oversized) Santa suit, and all the Christmas responsibilities that go along with it. Jake gets all the Christmas letters from kids around the world, grows a white beard to go with the suit, and in general is overwhelmed with his new job. His massive lists of Christmas gift requests boils down to one: get this beard off my face! Santa does, and Jake gets back to normal…but his parents also give him a dog.
Pablo Pino’s illustrations are colorful, cartoonish, and immediately clear. Christopher tells his story in verse, with Jake and Santa rhyming back and forth.
And…I found this only okay. The “oh no, I have to fill in for Santa” has been done in a lot of movies, and Jake’s Christmas lesson happens too easily. It all seemed like it had been done before.
But it isn’t bad.
