Nicholas: The Epic Journey from Saint to Santa Claus
On the heels of an eye-opening pre-Christmas trek to Santa's Kingdom with his six-year-old daughter, Seal commenced mapping the route an unassuming fourth-century bishop took to become a twenty-first-century icon who, surrounded by fake snow, didn't look like the sort "who usually went out of his way to be nice to children." Said to have secretly provided a poverty-stricken nobleman with enough dowry to marry off his three daughters, Nicholas had humble beginnings. Despite achieving the not insignificant distinction of sainthood via good works rather than martyrdom, his road to international fame wasn't easy by any means, what with Christian cities that revered him suddenly falling to non-Christians and banishing all things Christ-related. Then there was that pesky Reformation, when all saints became personae non gratae. Those obstacles came to seem speed bumps compared with others that Nikolai/Mikulas/Nicolaos/Nigul Klaus/Sinterklaas/Santa Claus would encounter. Told as if the generous saint were orchestrating his own popularity from a heavenly perch, Seal's account is chockablock with historical detail and dry humor.Donna ChavezCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved