This is one of those weird cool Christmas stories. The art is fantastic and the story was just plain fun. ( )

Missed some of the joy that I felt ought to be inherent. ( )

When you are finished reading Santa Calls you might ask yourself, is that it? Is that all to the story? But, do yourself a favor - read it again. And again and again. It is the story of a little boy named Art who is often cruel to his little sister, Esther. Together, they receive a curious present which sends them, along with their friend, Spaulding Littlefeets, on a terrific journey to the North Pole to see Santa Claus. Before they can investigate Santa's reason for the invitation, the children are confronted by a terrible queen and her evil minions. It is very reminiscent of the wicked witch and her flying monkeys from the Wizard of Oz. Once the children thwart the awful queen, (this is a book for children after all), they are back in Abilene, Texas in the blink of an eye. Was it all a dream? Esther doesn't think so. ( )

William Joyce is a genius with the way he slips things into his illustrations and cover pages. We are introduced to this character who has such a large personality and background, but at the end we find out it was all about another character. This story is so sweet and a fun adventure. William Joyce knows how to create settings that are going to bring the readers further into the book. His illustrations are great in this book just like the others and he always pays attention to detail. ( )

I was very pleasantly surprised by this one, it's one of those books that were on display at our library and my son insisted on bringing it home. It's rather a long story, for a picture book, but both me and my boy got totally sucked into it. There's suspense and a mystery to figure out, there are bad guys and some fighting (although not too completely harrowing), lots of enchanting fantasy to revel in, very much put forward by the enjoyable retro illustrations. Probably one of the best recent Christmas picture books we've come upon on. ( )