Santa, Please Bring Me a Gnome
By Regan McMahon,
Common Sense Media Reviewer
Common Sense Media Reviewers
Girl hopes for tiny live gift in gentle holiday story.
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What's the Story?
Little Tess writes a letter to Santa Claus asking, SANTA, PLEASE BRING ME A GNOME. She wants a real-live one, not a toy, and insists Santa needn't bring her anything else. While she waits, she gets her grandpa to make tiny wooden furniture for her future gnome (a little wooden bed) and her grandma to sew a tiny quilt, and she sets these items in her dollhouse. When Christmas comes and there's no gnome, she finds a letter from Santa explaining why (the backstory involves the gnome who was originally intended for her) and she gets another kind of live gift instead. And she's satisfied.
Is It Any Good?
This gentle holiday tale has an adorable main character hoping for something that seems an impossible request. And what makes Santa, Please Bring Me a Gnome relatable is that Tess' desire is so like live-being requests parents get all the time, for everything from a puppy to a pony to a parakeet. Tess accepts the reason Santa gives in the letter she finds on Christmas morning. And her substitute gift gives her what she's been craving: someone she can do things with who will listen to her "like a real friend."
Dutch illustrator Eline va Lindenhuizen's soft, cheery watercolor-and-pencil illustrations have a cozy winter feel that perfectly matches the warm tone of the story. Kids will notice the bright red accent of the tiny Santa hat first on the gnome that she imagines in her backpack appearing later on the hamster that actually fits in her backpack in real life.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about how asking for a gift is shown in Santa, Please Bring Me a Gnome. Have you ever written a letter to Santa Claus? Would you like to?
Would you like a pet for Christmas? How hard would it be to take care of a live being? What would you need to do?
Why do people like gnomes so much? Do you think they're real? How are they different from elves?
Book Details
- Author: An Swerts
- Illustrator: Eline van Lindenhuizen
- Genre: Holiday
- Topics: Great Girl Role Models , Holidays
- Book type: Fiction
- Publisher: Clavis
- Publication date: September 15, 2017
- Publisher's recommended age(s): 4 - 8
- Number of pages: 32
- Available on: Paperback, Hardback
- Last updated: September 25, 2020
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