Wake up, Santa Claus!

by Marcus Pfister

CHILDRENS

Genres: Christmas, Picture Books, Childrens, Holiday, Fiction

36 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 1996

About the author

Marcus Pfister was born in Berne, Switzerland, and began his career as a graphic artist in an advertising agency. In 1983, he decided to dedicate more time to artistic pursuits, and began to write and illustrate his first book, The Sleepy Owl, which was published in 1986. His best-known work to date is The Rainbow Fish, which has remained on bestseller lists across the United States since 1992.

Marcus does most of his illustrations for children's books in watercolors. He begins each book by stretching watercolor paper over a wooden board so that it won't warp when wet. He then copies his rough sketches onto the paper in pencil. At this point, he is ready to begin painting. For backgrounds and blended contours, he uses wet paint on wet paper to get a softer effect. For sharper details, he first lets the paper dry, then paints the final picture layer by layer. When the illustration is complete he cuts the paper from the wooden board.

For books that feature holographic foil stamping, he then tapes a piece of transparent film over the art and indicates with a black marker where the foil stamping should be. The foil stamping is then applied during the production process after the pages are printed and before the final binding.

Marcus and his wife, Kathryn, work together in Berne, where they live with their three children.

Reviews

[Manybooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written and illustrated by Marcus Pfister (of The Rainbow Fish fame) and originally published in German as Lieber Nikolaus, wach auf!, Wake Up, Santa Claus! has Santa Claus oversleeping and frantically rushing around to get everything done before it is time for him to depart on his mission to deliver Christmas gifts. And indeed, just about everything goes wrong! Santas has trouble finding his clothing, he almost forgets his sack of goodies and cannot fit them through the door, and to top it all off, his sleigh blades have rusted (and it is also snowing like mad). Finally, when Santa is about to despair at ever getting the sleigh moving, he wakes up; it was after all just a case of pre-Christmas jitters, a pre-Christmas nightmare (showing that the Christmas season is also a time of stress for even Santa Claus himself).

Now I really and truly have enjoyed Wake Up, Santa Claus!, and the surprise ending has most certainly been quite unexpected, in some ways perhaps a bit of a deus ex machina, however also a pretty well realistic deus ex machina at that (as indeed, many of us have had strange and stressful dreams before important meetings, exams, vacations and the like). And yes, the accompanying illustrations are typical Marcus Pfister aesthetic magic and as such, boldly expressive and sweetly humorous (and I do appreciate the humour of Santa Claus actually having a framed picture of the Rainbow Fish in his bedroom). Furthermore, I also do very much believe that Wake Up, Santa Claus! could be a fun and engaging read-aloud story for a Christmas themed storytime, although younger children might well become a bit worried and agitated at all the things that seem to go wrong for poor Santa (but since it all ends just being a dream, it might, in fact, be reassuring for children to be made aware of the fact that even Santa Claus can have nightmares and experience jitters and stress during the holiday season).

[Abigail · Rating 3 out of 5]

Swiss children's author and artist Marcus Pfister, who is best known for his series of picture-books about the adventures of The Rainbow Fish , turns here to the story of Santa Claus, and the result is charming! When Santa oversleeps on the big day, it is just the first of many troubles, as he discovers that his clothing is not in order, the walkway from his house to the stable hasn't been shoveled, his bag of gifts is too large to fit through his front door, the reindeer haven't been fed, and the blades on his sleigh need sharpening. It's a full-scale disaster! Or is it...?

An engaging Santa story, with a surprise ending that sets all to rights (in a very humorous way), Wake Up Santa Claus! is lots of fun to read, with its accumulation of mishaps. Anyone who has ever had a morning where everything went wrong will sympathize with Santa's troubles! The artwork is lovely, colorful and very expressive - I loved the scene where Santa is hunting everywhere for his second boot! - with a soft-edged quality that works very well. The scenes in the falling snow are gorgeous (I have a weakness for wintry landscapes), while the ones in Santa's home are warm and cozy. All in all, a very appealing picture-book, one I would recommend to any young reader looking for fun Santa stories for the holidays!

[Tamara Lane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Who knew a children's story about Santa could be a nail biter?!?! Very good!

[Peggy Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Santa oversleeps, then there is a major snowstorm and it takes him forever to dig out, then he has to hook up the sleigh, then he has to go get the toys, then he can't get his sack of toys out of the house, then the reindeer need to be fed.... it's a nightmare! Literally.

A little difficult for my four-year-old to understand actually. Santa has a nightmare about oversleeping on Christmas. Hmmmm. Well, it's original, I'll give it that. Heartwarming? Fun? Not really. But the pictures are nice.

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author is Swiss and the text is translated from German. That may be what gives the story a slightly different (and appreciated) 'flavor.'

E.g, Santa lives alone in an inviting little cabin in a clearing in a forest. No North Pole. No elves. No helpers. No Mrs. Santa. ... But his reindeer (unnamed) are in the barn.

The art fills in details so is worth studying. (The picture of the rainbow fish above Santa's bed made me smile.)

[pati · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having overslept on the day he is supposed to deliver his sleighful of presents, Santa finds everything going wrong as he frantically scrambles to get ready for the big job.

[Marie Summers · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wonderful illustrations. I liked this story better than Rainbow Fish.

[MaryJo · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a sweet story with a fun twist, gentle and low-key, with endearing illustrations.

[Jana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nearly everyone can relate to oversleeping and running late, but what would happen if that person was Santa Claus on Christmas Eve? With beautifully painted illustrations and wonderful storytelling, this book would be wonderful to share during the holiday season. An extra treat is a painting of Marcus Pfister’s Rainbow Fish hanging above Santa’s bed.

[Katie Merkel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book captures the feeling of an "I'm late" nightmare perfectly!

[Norkett · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was a different take on Santa. We missed the elves and Ms. Claus though.

[Carrie Stader · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun read that was translated into English from Swedish. I won't give the story away, but poor Santa sure had a bad day or so he thought. Any age will enjoy this sweet book.

[Rebel · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was funny

[Allie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute story. Cute surprise at the end. (Keep)