About This Book

This sparkling holiday story packs plenty of magic and surprises for young readers to get excited about, as well as conveying an important lesson.

Young Teeka, an Arctic girl, gets a chance to get Santa's reindeer ready for Christmas Eve! In fact, Santa personally asked her to do it, since she's been such a great kid and since she also lives right near Santa's Winterfarm. But rounding up the reindeer won't be any easy task for Teeka since they've been acting quite rambunctious during the "off season." As she begins trying to train them, she gets increasingly frustrated by the minute, until she finally bursts into tears and realizes that she needs to take another approach. So she hugs each reindeer and decides to start anew. As Christmas Day gets closer and closer, Teeka becomes a good trainer, and on the big day, she brings all of the reindeer to Santa who has loaded up the sleigh. The last page shows Teeka getting a good night's sleep as all the reindeer she's trained fly by her window.

Brett's gorgeous and humorous illustrations should prove to be a hit with all readers, and the story is perfect to include when discussing winter holidays. Readers who empathize with Teeka's plight may want to share feelings about their own experiences when they were able to change a negative beginning into a positive ending.