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Is There a Santa Claus?
Excerpt from Is There a Santa Claus?
I would have liked to hear the answers they would have given you. No Santa Claus! Why, there was scarce a man in the lot Who didn't carry a bundle that looked as if it had just tumbled out of his sleigh. I felt of one slyly, and it was a boy's sled - a exible yer.
I would have liked to hear the answers they would have given you. No Santa Claus! Why, there was scarce a man in the lot Who didn't carry a bundle that looked as if it had just tumbled out of his sleigh. I felt of one slyly, and it was a boy's sled - a exible yer.
40 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1904
About the author
Jacob A. Riis
261 books40 followersReports, including
How the Other Half Lives
(1890), of Danish-born American journalist and reformer Jacob August Riis on living conditions in city slums led to improvements in housing and education.
This Christian helped the impoverished in city of New York; much of his writing focused on those needy. In his youth in Denmark, he read Charles Dickens and James Fennimore Cooper; his works exhibit the story-telling skills, acquired under the tutelage of many English-speaking writers.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob_Riis
This Christian helped the impoverished in city of New York; much of his writing focused on those needy. In his youth in Denmark, he read Charles Dickens and James Fennimore Cooper; his works exhibit the story-telling skills, acquired under the tutelage of many English-speaking writers.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob_Riis
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
December 24, 2019
A short essay in the style of "Yes, Virginia" by the author of "The Battle with the Slum" and "How the Other Half Lives."
This short essay, featuring a visit with Teddy Roosevelt, is available in the public domain on Project Gutenberg at http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/31996, along with Riis other books http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/searc...+.
This short essay, featuring a visit with Teddy Roosevelt, is available in the public domain on Project Gutenberg at http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/31996, along with Riis other books http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/searc...+.
November 29, 2020
3.5/5
If you're going to read any letter about Santa Claus, make it the classic "Yes, Virginia" one, but if you're looking for more and a gear aimed more at adults at that, this one is perfectly splendid!
If you're going to read any letter about Santa Claus, make it the classic "Yes, Virginia" one, but if you're looking for more and a gear aimed more at adults at that, this one is perfectly splendid!
December 25, 2018
A quick read and so, so sweet.
January 1, 2019
Old books on the subject are worth peering into. This one makes a typically fudged case to appease a child's doubts.
December 3, 2014
It’s December and you know what that means – clichéd Christmas specials! They are all filled with the same idea that the holiday is meant to be about love and helping one another, and. This same story has been around for at least a hundred years, as demonstrated by Jacob Riis’s 1904 book Is There a Santa Claus? Despite how predictable and corny it was, I found myself beaming like a child.
The book opens with a letter from a little boy, asking if Santa was real. He discusses his belief of Santa being an idea instead of an actual person. The rest of the text is him reminiscing nice things that he has encountered while pondering the question. That’s about it. There’s no conflict and feels more like a personal essay, but it’s a brilliant personal essay. By seeing the kindness and pure joy of others, he concludes that Santa is an idea and how we envision him is just a disguise. Random fact – the disguise we know today wasn’t around when Is There a Santa Claus? was written. The image was created for a Coca Cola advertisement in the 1930s. Despite this example of consumerism, Rii’s story just brings out the Christmas spirit we admire, but don’t always have.
Even in 1904, this idea wasn’t exactly new. Francis Church’s editorial Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Clause was published seven years prior. However, I quickly read the editorial and feel like the book is stronger. I don’t want to go into why too much, but quickly reading the editorial made me appreciate the book even more. Just the title shows how Riis is more inclusive. By posing a question, he brings the children into a journey with him. Church, on the other hand, just explains it to the children. They both use a childish tone, as the target readers are in fact children, but Riis’s just sounded less patronising and more in touch with the human spirit. He didn’t focus on the use of fairies or the seeing versus believing concept like Church. Instead, he just focused on the magic of human beings.
The social interactions ranged from a strange cheerful man on the train to having the dinner with the Roosevelts and shows how Christmas effects each of them. People from different walks of life are all influenced by the heartwarming, sentimental Christmas spirit and how they return the feeling. I loved this bit because if it was focused on just one of them, I would have gotten bored more than I did. It also helped that it was a relatively short book. If it was any longer, the burst of Christmas jeer might have run out.
Despite how cheesy the story was, I’m giving it 7.4/10. It just made me feel happy, and that’s all I can ask for. If you’re not into this kind of stuff, it’s understandable. However, if this is your child’s year of discovering Santa’s non-existence, give them a copy of this to read. You can get it from Project Gutenberg for free. It might help their transition, but still leave them with a sense of optimism.
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Like my review? Read more at https://bookstination.wordpress.com/
The book opens with a letter from a little boy, asking if Santa was real. He discusses his belief of Santa being an idea instead of an actual person. The rest of the text is him reminiscing nice things that he has encountered while pondering the question. That’s about it. There’s no conflict and feels more like a personal essay, but it’s a brilliant personal essay. By seeing the kindness and pure joy of others, he concludes that Santa is an idea and how we envision him is just a disguise. Random fact – the disguise we know today wasn’t around when Is There a Santa Claus? was written. The image was created for a Coca Cola advertisement in the 1930s. Despite this example of consumerism, Rii’s story just brings out the Christmas spirit we admire, but don’t always have.
Even in 1904, this idea wasn’t exactly new. Francis Church’s editorial Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Clause was published seven years prior. However, I quickly read the editorial and feel like the book is stronger. I don’t want to go into why too much, but quickly reading the editorial made me appreciate the book even more. Just the title shows how Riis is more inclusive. By posing a question, he brings the children into a journey with him. Church, on the other hand, just explains it to the children. They both use a childish tone, as the target readers are in fact children, but Riis’s just sounded less patronising and more in touch with the human spirit. He didn’t focus on the use of fairies or the seeing versus believing concept like Church. Instead, he just focused on the magic of human beings.
The social interactions ranged from a strange cheerful man on the train to having the dinner with the Roosevelts and shows how Christmas effects each of them. People from different walks of life are all influenced by the heartwarming, sentimental Christmas spirit and how they return the feeling. I loved this bit because if it was focused on just one of them, I would have gotten bored more than I did. It also helped that it was a relatively short book. If it was any longer, the burst of Christmas jeer might have run out.
Despite how cheesy the story was, I’m giving it 7.4/10. It just made me feel happy, and that’s all I can ask for. If you’re not into this kind of stuff, it’s understandable. However, if this is your child’s year of discovering Santa’s non-existence, give them a copy of this to read. You can get it from Project Gutenberg for free. It might help their transition, but still leave them with a sense of optimism.
-----
Like my review? Read more at https://bookstination.wordpress.com/
November 24, 2013
What a lovely heart warming read. A young boy asks if there is indeed a Santa Claus because his father has just told him there isn't. So the author goes about in great detail about all the ways that prove there is a Santa Claus.
One was from a great banker, and it contained a check for a thousand dollars to help buy a home for some poor children of the East Side tenements in New York, where the chimneys are so small and mean that scarce even a letter will go up through them, so that ever so many little ones over there never get on Santa Claus’s books at all.
The other letter was from a lonely old widow, almost as old as my dear mother in Denmark, and it contained a two-dollar bill. For years, she wrote, she had saved and saved, hoping some time to have five dollars, and then she would go with me to the homes of the very poor and be Santa Claus herself.
No Santa Claus? Yes, my little man, there is a Santa Claus, thank God! Your father had just forgotten. The world would indeed be poor without one. It is true that he does not always wear a white beard and drive a reindeer team not always, you know but what does it matter? He is Santa Claus with the big, loving, Christmas heart, for all that; Santa Claus with the kind thoughts for every one that make children and grown-up people beam with happiness all day long.
Because don’t you know, Santa Claus is the spirit of Christmas: and ever and ever so many years ago when the dear little Baby was born after whom we call Christmas, and was cradled in a manger out in the stable because there was not room in the inn, that Spirit came into the world to soften the hearts of men and make them love one another.
I'm a sucker for a feel good Christmas story and this one brought on the sniffles more than once.
One was from a great banker, and it contained a check for a thousand dollars to help buy a home for some poor children of the East Side tenements in New York, where the chimneys are so small and mean that scarce even a letter will go up through them, so that ever so many little ones over there never get on Santa Claus’s books at all.
The other letter was from a lonely old widow, almost as old as my dear mother in Denmark, and it contained a two-dollar bill. For years, she wrote, she had saved and saved, hoping some time to have five dollars, and then she would go with me to the homes of the very poor and be Santa Claus herself.
No Santa Claus? Yes, my little man, there is a Santa Claus, thank God! Your father had just forgotten. The world would indeed be poor without one. It is true that he does not always wear a white beard and drive a reindeer team not always, you know but what does it matter? He is Santa Claus with the big, loving, Christmas heart, for all that; Santa Claus with the kind thoughts for every one that make children and grown-up people beam with happiness all day long.
Because don’t you know, Santa Claus is the spirit of Christmas: and ever and ever so many years ago when the dear little Baby was born after whom we call Christmas, and was cradled in a manger out in the stable because there was not room in the inn, that Spirit came into the world to soften the hearts of men and make them love one another.
I'm a sucker for a feel good Christmas story and this one brought on the sniffles more than once.
December 3, 2014
As best I could determine, Francis P. Church's "Yes, Virginia" essay was written several years before Danish-American investigative journalist Jacob Riis penned this little book. It has some similarities to Church's ouecem but includes more religion and even some politics -- Riis pays a visit to the White House and recounts an evening with Theodore Roosevelt and his wife Edith. It's a very nice period piece, and is available free on Project Gutenberg.
December 11, 2024
Same Ol' Question.
🖍️ This short book was first published in 1904 and is the author’s answer to a boy who wrote to him, asking if Santa Claus exists.
📕 Published in 1904.
જ⁀🟢 E-book version on Project Gutenburg.
જ⁀🟣 Kindle.
🖍️ This short book was first published in 1904 and is the author’s answer to a boy who wrote to him, asking if Santa Claus exists.
📕 Published in 1904.
જ⁀🟢 E-book version on Project Gutenburg.
જ⁀🟣 Kindle.
November 23, 2015
Sentimental but kind and good-hearted quick read
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews