The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus

By L. Frank Baum and Lyman Frank Baum

Book Overview

One of six beloved Christmas classics in collectible hardcover editions

L. Frank Baum's The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus was first published in 1902, two years after his Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Drawing on the attributes of Santa Claus from Clement Moore's 1822 poem "A Visit from St. Nicholas" ("The Night Before Christmas"), Baum chronicles Santa's life from his childhood in an enchanted forest--the same forest that is the source of all magic in the land of Oz--to his destiny of sharing gifts and spreading love to his fellow man. Along the way we witness him making his first toys, learn the origins of the Christmas tree and Christmas stockings, and discover the stories behind many Christmas secrets, like why Santa slides down chimneys, how he picks his reindeer, and how he delivers all his toys in one night. Later adapted into multiple animated films, and published here with the original illustrations from the first edition, The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus evinces the charm, warmth, and fantasy that made L. Frank Baum's Oz stories American classics.

Penguin Christmas Classics

Give the gift of literature this Christmas.

Penguin Christmas Classics honor the power of literature to keep on giving through the ages. The six volumes in the series are not only our most beloved Christmas tales, they also have given us much of what we love about the holiday itself. A Christmas Carol revived in Victorian England such Christmas hallmarks as the Christmas tree, holiday cards, and caroling. The Yuletide yarns of Anthony Trollope popularized throughout the British Empire and around the world the trappings of Christmas in London. The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus created the origin story for the presiding spirit of Christmas as we know it. The holiday tales of Louisa May Alcott shaped the ideal of an American Christmas. The Night Before Christmas brought forth some of our earliest Christmas traditions as passed down through folk tales. And The Nutcracker inspired the most famous ballet in history, one seen by millions in the twilight of every year.

Beautifully designed hardcovers--with foil-stamped jackets, decorative endpapers, and nameplates for personalization--in a small trim size that makes them perfect stocking stuffers, Penguin Christmas Classics embody the spirit of giving that is at the heart of our most time-honored stories about the holiday.

Collect all six Penguin Christmas Classics:

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
Christmas at Thompson Hall: And Other Christmas Stories by Anthony Trollope
The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus by L. Frank Baum
A Merry Christmas: And Other Christmas Stories by Louisa May Alcott
The Night Before Christmas by Nikolai Gogol
The Nutcracker by E. T. A. Hoffmann

For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0143128531
• ISBN13: 9780143128533
• Release Date: October 2015
• Publisher: Penguin Classics
• Length: 176 Pages
• Weight: 0.66 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.0" x 7.4"
• Age Range: 8 to 12 years
• Grade Range: Grades 3 to 7

Customer Reviews

Abridged* Version but with Gorgeous Illustrations. A Collector's copy for those who don't care about

The copy that I purchased turned out to be an abridged* version of only 56 pages in length, 31 of which were full-page illustrations. While it is a wonderful volume, nicely presented with Beautiful, Artistic, Well-drawn illustrations, it was not the one I was hoping for. This hard bound, former Library copy, is approximately 0.5" x 9.25" x 12.25" in size and would be THE perfect one to read on Christmas Eve with the family gathered around. Young children especially will not only enjoy the story, but the pictures as well, and should be able to sit through an entire reading before becoming fidgety. Though a bit longer than "A Night Before Christmas", this version would make a nice Christmas Eve or Advent tradition to alternate with the Clement Moore poem to be read to the family every other year. As I have heard the entire Original version read aloud, I will be seeking a second copy in hopes of tracking that one down. I am a HUGE fan of Christmas, therefore having more than one copy of a book does not bother me. Had I known there were two different versions out in print, OR had I paid MORE attention to each volumes' descriptions (size, page numbers, etc.), I might not have made this mistake. Nonetheless, I love the one I purchased. The original version is longer, takes about four and a half to five hours to perform (read aloud), and would better hold the attention of teenagers and older children with its additional depth and details. As a side note: "Hollywood" made two video versions of this tale. One in the late 1960's-early 70's in the style of the Rankin-Bass stop-motion puppets (think "Nestor the Long-eared Donkey" video) and one fully-animated, color version that is out on DVD. The later is narrated by Hal Holbrook (I think). Both have been aired over broadcast television and cable, with the animated one just last month (Dec 2019) in Spanish. The animated one is also longer, contains more details from L. Frank Baum's story and has an added character of a Pixie not mentioned in the book. This Pixie eventually becomes Santa's "sidekick" when, as a young Nicolas, he sets out from the Forest of Burzee to live on his own as an adult. *NOTE: MY descriptor for shortened text. Nowhere in this book's copy does it use the word "abridged". However, I have seen some volumes that DO use "Original" version on the book's cover.

Christmas

A beautifully illustrated book that embellishes the story by Baum. It will be cherished by readers who love Christmas stories.

Beautiful reimagining of the legend.

L. Frank Baum was one of the great fantasy writers of the early 20th century -- in fact, were it not for Tolkien, I'd be tempted to call him the greatest in 100 years. His Oz books created a beautiful, vibrant land that still draws readers a century later. This book, his twist on the legend of Santa Claus, is part of that wonderful tapestry he wove. Forget all of the Santa Claus legends you've read before -- there's no North Pole, no elves, no Bergermeistermeisterberger -- the story starts with a baby found in the woods by the fairy Necile. She raises him as her son, Claus (or "Ni-claus," meaning "Little Claus"), until the child begins to wonder about his own people. Shown the dangers of the human world by the great Ak, Claus decides to venture forth amongst the mortals regardless. Claus gets a lot of credit in this story, from inventing the first toy to inspiring a war amongst immortals to retrieve them, and all of it is done in Baum's clear, clean style that is as easy to read today as it was in his time. It might not be the best book for a small child, who may ask questions trying to reconcile this unique version of Santa with the one he knows, but for an older child who understands that the spirit of Santa Claus is what's important it is a wonderful book. I re-read it every December.

Cute fiction built around Santa Claus

I remember reading this book around fifth grade. I kind of liked it then, I think because of the whole fairies thing. Basically the story follows the life of Claus, a baby adopted by fairies. (The story starts in fairy land and much of it involves the fairies and woodland spirits. If you are expecting traditional Christmas lore you will get that but not quite yet.) The fairies are immortal, but Claus will grow up and age. When he has grown to be a teenager the fairies set him up in a cottage in the woods. Apparently they are bringing him food and necessities, so his only job is to discover his purpose in life. He begins to make toys for children to cheer them up, and the story goes from there. The entire host of fairies gets involved in toy production. Instead of making toys like the merry elves, they bring colors from flowers and other magical properties that Claus can include in his toys. This reads like a fairy tale and grdually Baum brings in elements from the Santa mythology. The transition from fairies and magic to Santa is what I liked most in the book. I recently reread this book and liked it except for the whole toys making kids happy thing. Its not that I dislike kids or toys. Here Claus (obviously the future Santa Claus) makes toys for children and the toys are the panacea that makes their world perfect. With a small carved toy dog all of a sudden they are kind to siblings, respect their parents and are bursting with joy. If he passed out lifetime supplies of cocain and valium he couldn't make them happier. If I were to find that Baum had been commissioned by a department store to write this book as a special advertising section for holiday spending then that would explain alot. The huge emphasis on more toys=happy makes the book a little sick. Overall this is a nifty twist on the Santa Claus myth. It reads well even in the summertime. The only drawback is the huge focus on happiness through toys. The only moral that I could extract from the story is that children NEED toys to be happy and this is soooo important that the entire world of fairy restructures itself around toys. Good story but it sometimes feels like good press for the toy department.

What a Wonderful Treat for Christmas!!!

This book has a rather peculiar history. Originally published in 1902, two years after Baum's success with The Wizard of Oz,the first printing contained 20 color illustrations. In the second printing, eight of the color illustrations were left out, replaced by numerous black and white marginal illustrations. So you can imagine the delight of Oz fans when they discover this lovely edition in full color readily available after so many years of black and white reprints of the original edition.The book is in three sections: "Youth", "Manhood", and "Old Age". Santa was discovered as an infant abandoned in the Forest of Burzee. The nymphs, fairies and elves adopted him and under the tutelage of Ak, the Master Woodsman of the World, Claus is bought up to appreciate and understand that all living things are sacred and deserve respect. In the "Manhood" section Baum tells the reader how Claus began making toys and delivering them to the world. He had his problems though. The Awgwas, who are evil creatures and can't tolerate happiness, continue to plague Claus first by intercepting his toys during delivery and then kidnapping Claus himself. "Old Age" describes the immortals' decision to take certain actions so that Claus can continue to give to the world.Numerous questions are answered here:What is the reason for hanging stockings?How and why did Santa enlist the help of reindeer?Why does he slide down the chimney?As in the Wizard of Oz a good number of the characters here are Baum's own creations. You'll meet the knooks and the ryls, for example. You'll also meet the Gnome King who is rather benign here, but, by the end of Ozma of Oz, becomes the arch enemy of that fairy kingdom.Michael Hague's illustrations are glorious.In the "Illustrator's Note" he states that the illustrations took three times longer than he expected. Well, it certainly shows. This was a labor of love. The pictures are in two varieties, full color and two color. The endpapers show a snowy day in the woods, a small creature trudging through it with a sack on its back. This is indeed one of Mr. Hague's finest moments. I wish I could give this book a 10, 5 for the story and 5 for the pictures.

A Santa Claus like you've never seen

L. Frank Baum was one of the great fantasy writers of the early 20th century -- in fact, were it not for Tolkien, I'd be tempted to call him the greatest in 100 years. His Oz books created a beautiful, vibrant land that still draws readers a century later. This book, his twist on the legend of Santa Claus, is part of that wonderful tapestry he wove.Forget all of the Santa Claus legends you've read before -- there's no North Pole, no elves, no Bergermeistermeisterberger -- the story starts with a baby found in the woods by the fairy Necile. She raises him as her son, Claus (or "Ni-claus," meaning "Little Claus"), until the child begins to wonder about his own people. Shown the dangers of the human world by the great Ak, Claus decides to venture forth amongst the mortals regardless.Claus gets a lot of credit in this story, from inventing the first toy to inspiring a war amongst immortals to retrieve them, and all of it is done in Baum's clear, clean style that is as easy to read today as it was in his time. It might not be the best book for a small child, who may ask questions trying to reconcile this unique version of Santa with the one he knows, but for an older child who understands that the spirit of Santa Claus is what's important it is a wonderful book. I re-read it every December.