Li’l Santa

    (NBM)
™ and © NBM

Even though the Christmas holiday season comes earlier every year (doesn’t it start the day after Halloween?), we still need to be reminded that the spirit of giving should last throughout the year. So it’s appropriate that a well-told tale about old Kris Kringle should evoke smiles long after the stockings have been taken down.

In this silent but colorful spin on Santa, writer Lewis Trondheim and illustrator Thierry Robin put the merry elf through his paces, as he deals with a mountain of mail, a pesky snow dragon, and a shortage of raw material to manufacture his presents! Luckily, both resourceful and resilient, Claus sets out to recycle the world’s garbage into a new round of gifts.

Aided by his trusty posse of indefatigable workers, cooperative snowmen, and wayward moose, the bearded wonder manages to spread a generous dose of good will without even one sound effect. Plotted and drawn with abundant enthusiasm, Li’l Santa talks in the universal and timeless language of innocent childhood humor.

— Oliver Chin
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