First let me say that this book took my breath away–even on Kindle. Now I won’t rest until I have a hard-bound copy to keep forever! I’ve never made it through the Hobbit, nor the Lord of the Rings trilogy. My brother, nephew and niece’s husband are big-time Tolkien freaks, but not me. This book changed that–at least on Tolkien as artist and scribe for Father Christmas!
There are no words to do this masterpiece justice. As the children writing to Father Christmas grow up, so do Father Christmas’s replies get more sophisticated and the cast of helpers at the North Pole grows. The business of Santa becomes more complex and is more harshly impacted by world events like the Great Depression and World War II. The polar bear assistant goes thru all sorts of problems–just like LOTR, Tolkien creates an entire world of Santa-land at the North Pole.
But, to me, it is the exquisite drawings–so compelex, so measured and exact–that makes this book the treasure that it is.
You can view many of the illustrations in these blog posts:
Shelley Davies’ Christmas is Coming post
Tygertale’s Letters from Father Christmas post
Letters From Father Christmas by J.R.R. Tolkien
Hopewell's Public Library of Life 