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The Truth about Santa Claus
Explains how historical facts, religious mythology, folklore, tradition, and commercial promotion have combined to give us the modern figure of Santa Claus.
- GenresNonfiction
86 pages, Hardcover
First published November 1, 1985
14 people want to read
About the author
James Cross Giblin
53 books16 followersJames Cross Giblin was an American children's author and editor, known for his award-winning works. He won the Golden Kite Award and the Sibert Medal for his contributions to children's literature. Giblin was born in Cleveland and raised in Painesville, Ohio. He graduated from Western Reserve University and earned a master's in playwriting from Columbia University. After a brief acting career, he entered publishing, founding Clarion Books, a children's imprint later acquired by Houghton Mifflin. At Clarion, he edited works by notable authors like Eileen Christelow and Mary Downing Hahn. Giblin’s works include The Life and Death of Adolf Hitler and Good Brother, Bad Brother.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
December 9, 2022
A super interesting survey of the long history of Saint Nicholas and how his stories evolved into the Santa Claus we know today. I read this aloud to my kids, and did skim over parts that were either too wordy or just too weird. I didn’t want to ruin the idea of Santa Claus for them, just give them an understanding of how he came to be. We’ve always told our children that Santa was a real person who lived a long time ago, who has become an imaginative tradition that is fun to think about at Christmas.
I personally would not recommend this book for children who strongly believe in Santa unless you want to completely shatter their world. But if your child is wondering about the truth of Santa or confused about what to think about him, this could be a good book to read. Or if you’re an adult who just enjoys learning the history behind our traditions, this is an easy read with a ton of history written into a few short chapters. I enjoyed the old artwork and newspaper clippings of Santa from years gone by, and the history of St. Nicholas was very interesting.
I personally would not recommend this book for children who strongly believe in Santa unless you want to completely shatter their world. But if your child is wondering about the truth of Santa or confused about what to think about him, this could be a good book to read. Or if you’re an adult who just enjoys learning the history behind our traditions, this is an easy read with a ton of history written into a few short chapters. I enjoyed the old artwork and newspaper clippings of Santa from years gone by, and the history of St. Nicholas was very interesting.
December 26, 2019
quick and informative little book about how different holiday icons merged and became Santa Claus as we know him now. I was familiar with Saint Nicholas and Sinter Klaus but it was interesting to learn about a few other influencers I was unaware of.
January 11, 2024
AN INTERESTING HISTORY FROM 'ST. NICHOLAS’ TO MODERN TIMES
Author James Cross Giblin wrote in the first chapter of this 1985 book, “Who is Santa Claus? Is he the jolly man sitting on a throne in … a department store? Or the … fellow who stands on a street corner at Christmastime, ringing a bell and collecting money for charity? Is he… your father, who plays Santa at a family gathering? The truth is all of these people and thousands more are Santa Claus today. But less than two hundred years ago there was no Santa Claus as we know him. No fat little man in a red suit … rode across the sky on Christmas Eve in a sleigh full of gifts pulled by eight tiny reindeer. That image of Santa Claus came later. There were other gift-bringers in olden times, though. Like Santa, they rewarded children who had been good … and punished those who had been bad. One of these gift-bringers … was a man named Nicholas who later became a saint. This book tells about those early gift-bringers, and shows how the real Nicholas was gradually transformed into the fairy-tale figure of Santa Claus.” (Pg. 3-4)
He explains, “Little is known of Nicholas’s life---so little, in fact, that in 1969 the Roman Catholic Church questioned whether he had ever really lived. According to biographies of Nicholas, written long after his death, he was born in … Asia Minor about A.D. 280… when Nicholas was twelve or thirteen, his happy, carefree life was shattered. A plague hit… and both of his parents were infected. Within a week, they died, leaving Nicholas an orphan. Nicholas wasn’t content to sit back and live on his inheritance, though. He gave much of the money to charity and devoted himself even more seriously to his religious studies. At the age of nineteen he was ordained a priest … Soon after… he was named Bishop of Myra… Nicholas was still so young that people called him the ‘Boy Bishop.’ Despite his youth, Nicholas soon earned a reputation for kindliness and wisdom.” (Pg. 5-6)
He continues, “in the year 303, the Roman emperor Diocletian commanded all citizens… to worship him as a god… many resisted the Emperor’s commands, including … Bishop Nicholas. The Emperor … imprisoned thousands of Christians, among them Nicholas. For over five years the Bishop was confined to a small cell… At last Diocletian resigned and … Constantine, came to power. In 313 Nicholas was released from prison… from then until the end of his life he worked hard to build up the church and convert more people to Christianity… By the time of his death [in] … 343, people … had already begun to tell stories … and credit him with miracles. After he died these stories spread, and soon people started to call Nicholas a saint.” (Pg. 6-9)
Later, he adds, “According to Dutch tradition, the good saint returned to earth every St. Nicholas Eve. He wore his red bishop’s robes and rode through the countryside on a magnificent horse. Behind the saint… came a frightening creature known as Black Peter… On his back Black Peter carried a big sack or trunk filled with presents for children who had been good, and birch rods for those who had been bad… it was Black Peter who climbed up to the roof and dropped down through the chimney to deliver the presents and the birch rods… then the sooty figure climbed back up through the chimney, and he and Nicholas went on to the next stop on their route.” (Pg. 36-38) He adds, “Black Peter never became part of the St. Nicholas story in America, although he continued to play a major role in St. Nicholas Day festivities in the Netherlands.” (Pg. 42-45)
He notes that by the twentieth century, “To meet the demand for Santa Clauses, special training schools were set up around the country… If children couldn’t see Santa Claus in person to tell him what they wanted for Christmas, many wrote him letters addressed to the North Pole… they ended up in the dead letter office of the Post Office. Not wanting the children who wrote the letters to be disappointed, various individuals and groups volunteered to answer them. One such group was the Santa Claus Association, whose chief goal was ‘to preserve children’s faith in Santa Claus.’ … In 1928, the federal postal authorities investigated the Association and criticized its business practices. After that the New York City Post Office refused to turn over any more letters to the Association, but postal employees organized their own letter-answering campaign in its place.” (Pg. 66-68)
He goes on, “Other groups and localities also continued to answer children’s letters to Santa Claus. One of the best-known of these was the small village of Santa Claus, Indiana… the village is the home of fewer than a hundred people. However, more than 300,000 tourists each year visit its theme park, Santa Claus Land, which features Santa’s workshop on Kriss Kringle Street and the world’s largest statue of Santa Claus… Every December the Santa Claus post office receives more than five million pieces of Christmas mail. Most of these are personal and corporate Christmas cards, which are trucked to Santa Claus, canceled with the village’s postmark, and then sent to their destination.” (Pg. 68-70)
He reports, “In 1984, there was even an attempt to use the image of Santa Claus in a horror movie… ‘Silent Night, Deadly Night’ … Angry parents all over the U.S. picketed theaters where the movie was playing. They argued that it would have a bad effect on children, making them think of Santa Claus not as a kindly old man but as someone to fear. Their protests, along with poor business at the box office, forced the distributor to withdraw the film from circulation.” (Pg. 74)
This book will interest some looking for more information about St. Nicholas, and the Santa Claus legend.
Author James Cross Giblin wrote in the first chapter of this 1985 book, “Who is Santa Claus? Is he the jolly man sitting on a throne in … a department store? Or the … fellow who stands on a street corner at Christmastime, ringing a bell and collecting money for charity? Is he… your father, who plays Santa at a family gathering? The truth is all of these people and thousands more are Santa Claus today. But less than two hundred years ago there was no Santa Claus as we know him. No fat little man in a red suit … rode across the sky on Christmas Eve in a sleigh full of gifts pulled by eight tiny reindeer. That image of Santa Claus came later. There were other gift-bringers in olden times, though. Like Santa, they rewarded children who had been good … and punished those who had been bad. One of these gift-bringers … was a man named Nicholas who later became a saint. This book tells about those early gift-bringers, and shows how the real Nicholas was gradually transformed into the fairy-tale figure of Santa Claus.” (Pg. 3-4)
He explains, “Little is known of Nicholas’s life---so little, in fact, that in 1969 the Roman Catholic Church questioned whether he had ever really lived. According to biographies of Nicholas, written long after his death, he was born in … Asia Minor about A.D. 280… when Nicholas was twelve or thirteen, his happy, carefree life was shattered. A plague hit… and both of his parents were infected. Within a week, they died, leaving Nicholas an orphan. Nicholas wasn’t content to sit back and live on his inheritance, though. He gave much of the money to charity and devoted himself even more seriously to his religious studies. At the age of nineteen he was ordained a priest … Soon after… he was named Bishop of Myra… Nicholas was still so young that people called him the ‘Boy Bishop.’ Despite his youth, Nicholas soon earned a reputation for kindliness and wisdom.” (Pg. 5-6)
He continues, “in the year 303, the Roman emperor Diocletian commanded all citizens… to worship him as a god… many resisted the Emperor’s commands, including … Bishop Nicholas. The Emperor … imprisoned thousands of Christians, among them Nicholas. For over five years the Bishop was confined to a small cell… At last Diocletian resigned and … Constantine, came to power. In 313 Nicholas was released from prison… from then until the end of his life he worked hard to build up the church and convert more people to Christianity… By the time of his death [in] … 343, people … had already begun to tell stories … and credit him with miracles. After he died these stories spread, and soon people started to call Nicholas a saint.” (Pg. 6-9)
Later, he adds, “According to Dutch tradition, the good saint returned to earth every St. Nicholas Eve. He wore his red bishop’s robes and rode through the countryside on a magnificent horse. Behind the saint… came a frightening creature known as Black Peter… On his back Black Peter carried a big sack or trunk filled with presents for children who had been good, and birch rods for those who had been bad… it was Black Peter who climbed up to the roof and dropped down through the chimney to deliver the presents and the birch rods… then the sooty figure climbed back up through the chimney, and he and Nicholas went on to the next stop on their route.” (Pg. 36-38) He adds, “Black Peter never became part of the St. Nicholas story in America, although he continued to play a major role in St. Nicholas Day festivities in the Netherlands.” (Pg. 42-45)
He notes that by the twentieth century, “To meet the demand for Santa Clauses, special training schools were set up around the country… If children couldn’t see Santa Claus in person to tell him what they wanted for Christmas, many wrote him letters addressed to the North Pole… they ended up in the dead letter office of the Post Office. Not wanting the children who wrote the letters to be disappointed, various individuals and groups volunteered to answer them. One such group was the Santa Claus Association, whose chief goal was ‘to preserve children’s faith in Santa Claus.’ … In 1928, the federal postal authorities investigated the Association and criticized its business practices. After that the New York City Post Office refused to turn over any more letters to the Association, but postal employees organized their own letter-answering campaign in its place.” (Pg. 66-68)
He goes on, “Other groups and localities also continued to answer children’s letters to Santa Claus. One of the best-known of these was the small village of Santa Claus, Indiana… the village is the home of fewer than a hundred people. However, more than 300,000 tourists each year visit its theme park, Santa Claus Land, which features Santa’s workshop on Kriss Kringle Street and the world’s largest statue of Santa Claus… Every December the Santa Claus post office receives more than five million pieces of Christmas mail. Most of these are personal and corporate Christmas cards, which are trucked to Santa Claus, canceled with the village’s postmark, and then sent to their destination.” (Pg. 68-70)
He reports, “In 1984, there was even an attempt to use the image of Santa Claus in a horror movie… ‘Silent Night, Deadly Night’ … Angry parents all over the U.S. picketed theaters where the movie was playing. They argued that it would have a bad effect on children, making them think of Santa Claus not as a kindly old man but as someone to fear. Their protests, along with poor business at the box office, forced the distributor to withdraw the film from circulation.” (Pg. 74)
This book will interest some looking for more information about St. Nicholas, and the Santa Claus legend.
December 10, 2025
For me, an annual read that helps me “get in the spirit” of the season.
March 14, 2019
I'm hesitant to give this low stars because I'm considering the time period in which it was written (1980s). However, this book was rather a dull read, although informative. We started it and then took a long break, and then finished it way after Christmas. Mostly, I was hoping to teach my children the legends of Santa Claus, and the truths behind the man from which Santa originated. This book achieved this, however the format was pretty bland and overall not well liked by my sons. This would maybe go over better with a reissued, nor engaging version.
June 26, 2019
This is a book that explores the roots of Santa Claus and how he became who he is today. It was a tremendous joy reading about how a plethora of cultures and traditions has changed and morphed into the Santa Clause.
The book was presented with well researched ideas and presented in a simple but educational format. I learned things I did not know about. I should note that it is also entertaining and contains a history of pictures also.
It is presented in chronological order and contains an excellent bibliography for further reading if so desired.
The book was presented with well researched ideas and presented in a simple but educational format. I learned things I did not know about. I should note that it is also entertaining and contains a history of pictures also.
It is presented in chronological order and contains an excellent bibliography for further reading if so desired.
December 5, 2012
This is a wonderful book that really helps people to see where the idea of Santa came from via the historical and cultural stand point. This is not a book for younger children who still believe in Santa Claus because it might give away that he is a character from cultural make-up.
November 29, 2012
Excellent book about how the traditions of St. Nicholas started and how Kriss Kringle came to be and the religious background of Santa.....and the 20th century add ons....lovely story.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews