Common Sense Media Review
By Regan McMahon
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Greedy boy tries to capture Santa in funny, offbeat tale.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 6+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Read
Parent and Kid Reviews
What's the Story?
Bradley Bartleby is a bad little boy who was born bad. He's selfish and greedy, and every year his wealthy father hires a team of secretaries to type up Bradley's huge Christmas list for Santa Claus. Santa knows Bradley's naughty, so he brings him only a pair of socks every year. Following the last Christmas, Bradley spends the whole year booby-trapping his chimney and living room with everything from rockets, dynamite, and cannons to live tigers -- all to trap Santa and demand every present he's carrying on his sleigh. Things do not go as planned, and Santa triumphs once again.
Is It Any Good?
THE SANTA TRAP is an offbeat, funny Christmas story with as much of a moral lesson as more heartwarming yuletide fare but a lot more laughs. The expressive, cartoon-like illustrations show Bradley's many moods -- from angry and frustrated to mean, nasty, and diabolical -- as he methodically sets his trap. Readers get to see a little kid take charge (his parents move into a hotel when the house becomes too dangerous) but will delight in seeing him get his comeuppance. It's wonderfully different holiday book both kids and parents will enjoy.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about making a Christmas gift list. What's reasonable and what seems too greedy?
How does The Santa Trap compare with other Christmas stories you've read or seen in a movie?
Does Bradley learn anything by the end of the story?
Book Details
- Author :
- Illustrator : Poly Bernatene
- Genre : Holiday
- Topics : Holidays
- Book type : Fiction
- Publisher : Peachtree Publishers
- Publication date : October 1, 2012
- Publisher's recommended age(s) : 4 - 8
- Number of pages : 32
- Available on : Paperback, Hardback
- Last updated : October 1, 2025
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