The Night Henry Ford Met Santa

by Carol Hagen, Matt Faulkner (Illustrator)

Could Henry Ford have taken his idea for an automobile assembly line from the elves at the North Pole? Maybe so. Set just before Christmas in 1908, this charming tale finds Henry Ford puzzling over a way to make his Model T affordable for the average family. His little son Edsel suggests that Daddy write to Santa for advice. Since Santa makes toys for millions of children, Edsel points out, he must know a better way. Henry writes the letter just to please his son, but Santa actually answers by taking Henry to visit his North Pole workshop. When he sees the elves working in a line, each completing just one specific task on every toy that's made, Henry Ford envisions an automobile assembly line. The story not only illustrates that children can teach adults how to dream, but it also provides an author's note with factual information about Henry Ford and the Model T.

Genres: Christmas, Picture Books, Childrens, Historical Fiction

32 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2006

Reviews

[Meltha · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is cute. Henry Ford gets the idea for the assembly line from Santa's elves making toys (much more charming than the meat packing industry, which we find out in the end notes is where the idea really originated). Obviously, history is played with pretty fast and loose here, up to changing Edsel's age and the year Ford invented his process, and kids will undoubtedly have trouble reading the section in cursive handwriting, but it's still a fun book and illustrated very well.

[Shannon Bradbury · Rating 2 out of 5]

For some reason this book felt kinda dry to me. However my fifth grade son liked it. So that’s a win. It’s a fictional tale about how Henry Fords son encourages him to write his own letter to Santa about what he wanted for Christmas. At the end of the book the author shared information about the real Henry Ford. I loved reading about how him & his wife started an actual Santa Shop on their mansion to help kids at Christmas every year. Truly beautiful!

[Sandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun twist on how Henry Ford came up with the idea for an assembly line (inspired by Santa's workshop in this holiday tale). The back of the book gives the true inspiration for this fictional picture book. Young readers may need a hand reading the section of the book written in cursive, but they will enjoy the illustrations.

[Alexis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Santa's workshop was the inspiration for Henry Ford's money saving assembly lines! Fun idea and book.

[Kati · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like this story -- fun to listen to, yet teaches something at the same time. It explains how the Henry Ford started building cars using the assembly line process, but brings in Christmas/Santa because he gets the idea after visiting Santa's workshop.

[Rose]

E Hag

[Bethe · Rating 3 out of 5]

holiday flavor to the history of Henry Ford and the assembly line, author's note in the back explains the fact from fiction of the book.