PRISCILLA AND THE GREAT SANTA SEARCH
by Nathaniel Hobbie and illustrated by Jocelyn Hobbie
The Hobbie brother-and-sister team brings back Priscilla, their perky, pink-clad protagonist, for a fourth rhyming adventure, focused this time on finding Santa at the North Pole. Priscilla and her BFF, Bettina, take off on skis to try to find Santa Claus and meet some interesting characters along the way. They do reach the North Pole (cleverly marked with a gigantic pink striped pole) but a snowstorm forces them back home without meeting Santa. While examining a photo from the trip, the girls realize that Santa was actually in midflight behind them, and they just missed seeing him. This ending falls flat, with the buoyant fantasy aspects of their trip out of sync with the realism of the missed opportunity. If you can make it to the North Pole on skis pulling a sled of supplies, then you should be able to find Santa too. The whimsical illustrations awash in pinks and reds are amusing, and the rhyming verses are entertaining, but the ending leaves the reader feeling like a kid with just a lump of coal in a pretty pink stocking. (Picture book. 4-7)