Review Detail

A bright and colorful depiction of a time honored Christmas tradition - secret Santa.

This book has a lower age limit of four, meaning the idea of secret Santa may go over their heads a bit, but it's depicted in a fun and interesting way. They might not exactly understand exactly what is going on, but they do understand presents and have started to learn that the art of gift giving is not about yourself, but the person you are giving it to. That's an important lesson and it's good that this story tries to tackle it. It misses the mark slightly, but only the adult mind would pick up on that.

Clark's class is doing a secret santa and Clark can't stand the idea of not knowing who is buying him a present. He focuses so much on his own gift that he completely forgets about the one he is supposed to buy. In the end, he ends up giving something he'd bought for himself and learns the lesson "If you want to be smart, always give from the heart." I failed to see the lesson really come to fruition. It's a great lesson, but the deeds of the shark didn't exactly portray it. When it comes to children, it's the words he says that will matter and in that respect, it's a fun and entertaining Christmas story. Perfect for this time of year.

The images are adorable. Clark is such a lovable shark that it makes you want to run out and find more stories about him. At the end of the day, kids will go bonkers for this story featuring all of their favorite sea animals in a fun and playful way.