The Santa Trap by Jonathan Emmett Illustrated by Poly Bernatene

from goodreads

3 stars

Well... I am slowly starting to feel a bit more Christmassy. On the weekend we went to a nearby tree farm and got our Christmas tree. It looked way smaller in the field. In reality it takes up like half our living room. But, it makes me smile every time I see it. It is definitely worth the slight inconvenience if it does that.

It was the kids Christmas party at my husbands work on Saturday as well.  They always do such a great job. Miss P's dreams were fulfilled because she finally got to sit on Santa's knee. She has been talking about doing that for weeks. And, for the first year in a long time our family didn't make the cry wall! Now if that isn't an accomplishment I don't know what is.

Synopsis

Bradley Bartelby is bad and never likes the presents Santa leaves him, so he has come up with a plan.

My Thoughts

If I was rating this just on my own without thinking of how my children enjoyed it, it would only be a 2. My husband and children enjoyed it and chuckled, but I really did not enjoy this book.

I didn't like how the parents were spineless. I didn't like how Bradley really didn't seem to learn anything. I understood why Bradley built the Santa's Trap, but I felt he didn't learn from this experience and thus would not change his ways. That seems like a waste. To me it was a "what was the point" type book. I know that not all children's books have to have a logical point but it should still be fun, and for me it just wasn't.

I did like the drawings. I did like the elephant element. And I did like what happens at the end with the tigers. I could see the beginnings of Bradley humbling himself. But because the end didn't show real character change I just felt it was a let down.

Your kids will probably have fun with this book so it is worth stomaching it, but for the adult, unless you are like my husband, it will leave something lacking.