Looking for Santa Claus

by Henrik Drescher

Maggie and the cow Blossom fly away on Christmas Eve and bring back three Santa Claus lookalikes to teach Maggie's three mean, selfish aunts how to celebrate Christmas.

Genres: Picture Books

215 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1984

About the author

Henrik Drescher was born in Copenhagen and immigrated to the United States in 1967. He began a career in illustration as a young man and has been traveling throughout the United States, Mexico, Europe and China, creating massive journals of notes and drawings wherever he went.

His books are held in the collections of the Library of Congress, the Museum of Modern Art, the Victoria and Albert Museum, and the Rijks Museum in Den Haag, Netherlands. He has received numerous other honors including two awards from the Society of Illustrators.

Reviews

[Ronyell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Now, as you have noticed, I am a huge fan of Henrik Drescher’s works as his works are truly creative and surreal at the same time! Well, I have just dug up this treasure called “Looking for Santa Claus” and it is probably Henrik Drescher’s most heartwarming and soothing picture book that was ever created!

There once was a little girl named Maggie who had three aunts who were selfish and mean and they also hated Christmas. One night, Maggie’s three aunts sent her out in the cold to dig Blossom the cow out of the snow and Blossom the cow offered Maggie a chance to find Santa Claus. So, both Maggie and Blossom flew away from the aunts’ house to find Santa Claus.

Let me just explain my feelings on this book in just THREE WORDS: HEARTWARMING, GORGEOUS and CREATIVE! Henrik Drescher has certainly done a fantastic job on both writing and illustrating this book as it was an extremely creative experience! Henrik Drescher’s is short and simple as there are mostly about one sentence on each page, however the story itself is truly heartwarming as Maggie wants to bring in Santa Claus to show her mean aunts the true meaning of Christmas and I loved the scenes where Maggie comes across several different characters who looked like Santa Claus, but were not really Santa Claus (such as a lonesome Cossack named Igor who is from Russia and a shepherd named Frits who is from Switzerland). It was also interesting that Blossom the Cow somehow has the ability to fly around the world, even though it was never mentioned in the book about how she is able to fly, but in the subtext of this book, this is an issue that is best left out! Henrik Drescher’s illustrations are even more gorgeous in this book as the characters look a bit more realistic than what we usually see of his work (but this book was one of his earlier projects during the 80s along with “Simon’s Book” and “The Strange Appearance of Howard Cranebill”). I loved the way that Henrik Drescher made the illustrations give off glowing colors such as the characters being reflected underneath the moonlight as it really made the illustrations look truly beautiful. I also loved the scenes of Blossom the Cow and Maggie flying off in the night as they looked mesmerizing in the night sky.

Overall, “Looking for Santa Claus” is easily one of Henrik Drescher’s most beautiful books and is a fantastic book for children who enjoy Christmas! For other Henrik Drescher titles, I would recommend:

Pat the Beastie
Love the Beastie: A Spin-And-Play Book
The Strange Appearance of Howard Cranebill
Simon's Book
Look-Alikes

Books illustrated by Henrik Drescher:

Gruesome Guide to World Monsters
The Fool and the Flying Ship
Runaway Opposites
No Plain Pets

Review is also on: Rabbit Ears Book Blog

[Melki · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maggie's awful aunties expect her to work nonstop, so she flies away on her cow Blossom to search for Santa. A most unusual Christmas story. Drescher's marvelously wacky illustrations really make this one special!

[Lệ Lin · Rating 5 out of 5]

'Looking for Santa Claus' was bought earlier this year but I truly wanted to save the book for this festive occasion!

The story is about how Maggie and her cow - Blossom - fly away to find Santa Claus in order to show her aunts how to celebrate the holiday again. In every corner of the Earth, they meet a Santa Clause lookalike with different names: Igor from Russia, Frits from Switzerland and Abdul from Egypt. Three strangers, Maggie and her three aunts with the lovely cow Blossom finally have a merry Christmas together after that journey. But what's about real Santa Claus, do you wonder how they can meet him? ;)

Even though Maggie's aunts were known to be sour and mean, the book is not intended to appear like another little Cinderella story but in fact, taking the little girl to the magical journey and let the joy burst forth.

I'm truly fond of the art of Hendrik Drescher in this book. His wobbly lines seem so messy at first but you can surely see the surprising movement out of it. The glowing effect in the moon and the sky are tremendous as to illustrate how good he blends watercolour and inking together. Last but not least: the way he adorned every frame in each spread wins my heart.

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