The Day Santa Stopped Believing in Harold by Maureen Fergus and Cale Atkinson

What I Loved:

We all know that there are children that are questioning if Santa is real; if happens all the time. What we may NOT have known is that SANTA questioned if Harold, a child, was real!

I loved that this book took a real life situation and flipped it over. The way the authors used this common occurrence, but changed the players had my entire family giggling. Santa questions Harold’s existence because of a variety of inaccuracies such as: Harold used to be really tiny and now he’s MUCH larger, Harold can’t really be the one writing the letters to Santa, it must be his mother, and so many other things! It was adorable!

How I Felt:

The Day Santa Stopped Believing in Harold gives a child a reason to believe again. We go through the first half of the book listening to Santa’s long list of reason’s why he thinks that Harold isn’t real. Mrs. Claus listens and tries to bring Santa around, but he will not have his mind changed.

The book then takes us to the other side of this story. Harold, in his home, deciding that he’s going to wait up all night to see if Santa is or is not real. The book gives the reader a chance to see both sides of this story and I loved that while Santa was losing faith that Harold was real, Harold was losing faith that Santa was real.

Both of my children enjoyed everything about this book, and while I rated it a 5 star read, my kids gave it a 10 STAR RATING.

The illustrations were fabulous throughout the entire book. I loved how everything was rounded. Santa was adorable as a big circular Jolly Old Saint Nick.

The colors were bright and vibrant making every page a joy to look at and there was so much TO look at! The details that were added to each page made the story really come to life.

To Read or Not To Read:

This book is perfect for early elementary children. The story is adorable and will keep a young reader’s attention and have them asking to read it again and again.

Santa has decided that he no longer believes in Harold. He likes the IDEA of Harold, but the facts just aren’t adding up for him anymore. Try as she might, Mrs. Claus is unable to convince Santa of Harold’s existence.

Harold is having the same feelings about Santa. Things just don’t seem to make sense anymore and he’s finding holes in the story of Santa.

It’s Christmas Eve and both Santa and Harold have decided to find out if the other is real. Harold camps out behind a chair in his living room in hopes of catching Santa or NOT catching him. When Santa arrives at Harold’s house, he too decides to hide and wait to see if Harold is real on Christmas morning.

I’m not spoiling this one, but it is an adorable ending and overall , this was a fabulous book!