IN THE NICK OF TIME TOO

The writer-illustrator team follow up their book In the Nick of Time (2019) with another title set during the December holidays. Prior familiarity with the first book is not necessary to follow the simple action in this one. The two young main characters return in the installment, which, like the first, involves Santa Claus. Nick Saint, who’s Black, is best friends with Cooper, a White boy his own age, and Nick’s home hosts Cooper and some of their neighbors for a Christmas Eve open-house celebration that also includes elements of Kwanzaa and Hanukkah. The merry soirée is a hit, and Cooper sleeps over, as planned, on the couch. In the middle of the night, Cooper is “startled by a thud at the bottom of the chimney. All Cooper saw were black boots surrounded by a cloud of dust.” After looking closer, Cooper wakes up Nick, concerned, as he thinks that the man he saw can’t be Santa, because he’s Black, and he’s never seen a Black Santa before. “My Santa is Black,” responds Nick. Soon, the boys have an awestruck meeting with the kindly Santa himself. He loves the homemade cookies that the family left out for him, and he leaves a note behind after his departure, commending the young pals and noting that “the world needs your message of friendship.”

The upbeat conclusion, featuring the missive from Santa Claus, is the only part of the story that features rhyming verse; in it, Santa points out that “Santa always looks like love,” and “love comes in all shapes and colors,” making it clear that Father Christmas can have a wide range of appearances. It also reminds the boys to not “waste one minute of the day / worrying about things people say about skin or color. / There are more important things to spend time on like, / spreading hope, / and taking care of one another.” The rest of the story is told in pleasantly conversational prose that meshes well with Mosley’s fruitcake-bright and festive full-color artwork. The narrative is uncomplicated, but it makes for an inclusive, conflict-free heart-warmer of a tale. At the end of the book, the creators explain that this book is a rarity in children’s literature, as it is a collaboration between a Black writer and a Black illustrator. Some readers may wish that the story featured larger speaking roles for Black female characters, although Nick’s mother does make an appearance. An easy-to-follow recipe for Nickydoodles, a baked treat that Nick’s mother makes during the story featuring toffee candy bars and ground cinnamon, is certain to have a great deal of appeal for young readers—just as it does for both Cooper and Santa over the course of the story itself.