Santa’s Secret

A sharp-eyed young sleuth urgently seeks the real Santa among several Christmas season helpers in this energetic picture book. Alarmed that a sidewalk Santa ringing a bell and collecting donations looks different from the one riding the sleigh in the city’s Christmas parade, a girl takes her turn sitting on the lap of yet a third Santa to grill him with questions (“How big is your workshop and how many elves?/ Do they live with you or all by themselves?”). Not completely satisfied with what she’s learned so far, a stop at a nearby coffee shop with her family provides the girl with the kind of magic that satisfies her curiosity, shores up her belief, and gives her a marvelous secret of her own to keep. Melmon’s cheerily busy city scenes and close-ups of the intrepid bespectacled narrator have a comic flavor that matches the pulse of Brennan-Nelson’s rhymes. Ages 6–7. (Aug.)