12 Books of Christmas - day 9

Here's day 9. Maybe it's because I've been dreaming of vacation lately...

Mrs. Claus Takes a Vacation - by Linas Alsenas


This cute book grabbed my attention at the library the way most do...the cover. Shame on me for judging books by their covers, eh? But that's how I've found so many good ones out there!!

Anyway - Mrs. Claus Takes a Vacation is a cute story from beginning to end - and the illustrations that make the cover so eye-catching are even more appealing on the pages inside.

This book starts at the North Pole - with Mrs. Claus expressing frustration that Santa gets to see the world every year and she has never really been out and about. So she kisses her husband goodbye and hitches up a reindeer and hits the road to see the world.

She travels around the world - sitting on beaches, eating sushi in Japan, dancing with locals somewhere in England, visiting beautiful temples somewhere in India. Santa sits home convinced she's not going to last in the sun at the beach (she's fine there), that she's not making any friends (she does), and that she's missing the food/cookies at their North Pole home (which she sorta does in a cute/funny sushi picture).
Mrs. Claus seems to be having a fabulous time - but starts to wish she was sharing the experiences with her husband - so she heads home - of course in time for Christmas Eve.
SPOILER ALERT! Santa hitches up the sleigh to make the rounds for Christmas - and asks her to go with him. He says he'd like to take her on one more trip around the world and couldn't imagine wanting to share it with anyone else.

This book is great. It is not too short/not too long - and the pictures keep it interesting the whole way through. Who doesn't want to see Santa in his loungewear at home waiting for his wife on his off days? :) The images of Mrs. Santa on her trip are well done and make you want to be in all those scenarios.

As I mentioned - perhaps I just need a vacation and that's why I pulled this off the shelf. However D likes this book too. He likes to see Mrs. Claus. To be honest it's nice to see her as the focus of a story! And it's got a great moral...that you can go anywhere and do anything - but it's the company you keep that makes wherever you go the most special.