The Letter from Santa

Ah, the season of goodwill and festive cheer is almost upon us, which can mean only one thing for me; going out into schools to read The Letter from Santa. I wrote this little Christmas Book for children just over two years ago, while I was off work, having broken both my legs (another blog for another day). So, whilst sitting in double casts I needed an alternative to mind-numbing daytime TV, and narrowly avoided having to kebab my own eyeballs by instead immersing myself in writing my story.
I tried it out on my own two boys, without telling them that I wrote it, and amazingly it held their attention. This is no mean feat! Ten minutes off their gadgets and you can see them beginning to twitch, so to sit and listen to Mummy wittering on about global warming and recycling for 20 minutes with no interruptions and minimal fidgeting was (I felt) quite the accomplishment. Wider testing gave similar results, so when the opportunity of publishing came along, I bit the bullet and signed up.
Despite my career as a recycling officer, the boys couldn’t care less about anything other than a steady stream of AA batteries and nutrient free snacks, what happens to our waste, global warming all of that ‘stuff’ doesn’t affect them – or so they thought. I have noticed in them a strong mercenary streak though, and thought I could use that to my advantage – what if, in order to get toys this Christmas, they had to do something ethical to allow Santa to deliver presents?
So, The Letter from Santa finds Santa unsurprisingly – at the North Pole, about to prep for this year’s toy making, when he discovers a drip. When he investigates further with his Elf & Safety rep they are horrified to find that the North Pole has melted down to a small island; and even worse the supplies they need to make toys can’t be obtained before January because resources are now so scarce.

Santa thinks about cancelling Christmas but Mrs Claus has other ideas. They make some progress, but still require help (hence the title) the thing is will help arrive in time or are the polar bears and Christmas doomed? Cue dramatic music…
Now that the book is published, and I’m back at work, I am able to use it as an environmental education tool. In fact, sitting dressed as an elf with stripy tights and big ears – I feel like a tool myself sometimes. But it is going really well, or would be if my throat wasn’t raging like the pits of hell. Fingers crossed that it holds out otherwise I’ll sound like Marlon Brando in The Godfather, “Hey, kids, C’mere – Santa’s gonna make you an offer you can’t refuse!” hmm, not necessarily the pitch I was aiming for.
11 down 36 to go, let’s hope I’m not ‘swimming with the fishes’ at the end of it!

The Letter from Santa is published by Excalibur Press (Belfast)
And is available on Amazon & Kindle, it is also available on CD audio read by yours truly.

https://losingtheplotweb.wordpress.com/2017/11/19/twas-the-night-before-christmas-2017/

The Letter From Santa https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0993501532/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_razhAbN3F3BC9