A City Full of Santas

That elusive item on many a kid’s wish list—meeting Santa IRL—drives Ho’s sprightly story of a child on a mission. When the young narrator and Mama, who cue as East Asian, travel to the “big fancy store in the city” to see Santa, they arrive to find the streets teeming with a veritable SantaCon’s worth of figures passing by a sign reading “Santa Auditions.” The child is sure they’ll recognize the real deal, and sets off to find the Santa who “smells like peppermint and chocolate,/ laughs like the sun clapping its hands,/ and feels like a heart full of glitter.” But when the department store Santa and several others fall short, one last-ditch effort is in order. Phuong’s digital images balance humorous and relatable details as background to the exuberant child’s emotional adventure. And believers of any age will appreciate Ho’s stirring notion of the existence of Santa being perceived through senses and feelings. Background characters are portrayed with various skin tones. Ages 4–8. (Sept.)