I bought this revision in hard back at Virgin while in Disney Downtown on Sunday. I had finished reading it by the time we arrived at home Sunday evening. (I am a very fast reader.) The book was a quick read, but had meat to it.

The book tells the story of Saint Nicholas, starting with his real life and going through all the world as Christmas has spread. If you want to learn the history of Christmas, this is a good book to start with. While it is clearly fictional (not only St. Nicholas, but also Attila and Arthur end up living forever), it is historically fairly accurate. You get to meet people from many centuries and walks of life- Charlemagne, DaVinci, Columbus, Theodore Roosevelt… It was a fun book with some good characters in it. The author used the term “magic” happily, while avoiding the use of “miracle,” which I was sad to see. And the main character is clearly a Christian, although the presentation of Islam is quite positive. It’s a fun little book, as long as you realize it’s not much more than a fun intro to the history of Christmas.

I was going to say that you should avoid the hardcover, but Amazon has it for $13. That’s not bad at all.