Yes, Virginia: There Is a Santa Claus Book

I've heard about this book a lot, but I've never actually read it. Earlier this year, I snagged it at our big book sale in town, so this Christmas season we finally read it!

At first, I was a little worried about reading this to my 6 year old. She was quite frustrated about why that one girl was so mean and telling all the kids there was no Santa. My daughter catches on things pretty easily, and I was hoping this wouldn't make her question it (she's too young to stop believing). But thankfully, she was just mad at everyone in the story.

The story itself was so sweet. I thought it was cute how she recognized that the guy collecting money for the poor was like Santa - giving away his coat, etc to help others. And the editorial was beautiful. It was hard to read in today's language though. My kids had no idea what most of the response was explaining so we had to break it down to smaller words they could understand. But I love the message about "acting" like Santa and providing the Christmas spirit to others and believing in something even though we can't see it.

I absolutely loved having a copy of the full editorial at the back of the book. I didn't realize this was actually a true story until coming on here for the review. It makes sense why the response is so wordy and uses some big words my kiddos didn't understand. I think this makes this story extra special, that it's a true event.

I would just suggest reading it first and then deciding whether to read it to your younger children. I'm thankful my daughter didn't question it as much, because it could have definitely made her start questioning this much sooner than expected. I don't think I'll add this to our "24 days of Christmas" book pile for the next few years. I'll keep it on MY bookshelf for a little while longer so we don't spoil that "magic" of Santa just yet.