A Kidnapped Santa Claus by L. Frank Baum

 A Kidnapped Santa Claus by L. Frank Baum is a short story where Santa Claus is kidnapped on Christmas Eve by the demons of Selfishness, Envy, Hatred and Malice who don't want to see happy children because the children don't visit their caves. Santa Claus is imprisoned in one of the caves, meaning he cannot deliver the Christmas presents to all the young children across the world. Luckily, Santa's helpers become aware and try to rescue him from the evil demons!

I really enjoyed this book. It was set in a magical world which would be believable to children even in the present day. It also provides a great read, regardless of your age, to help bring on the Christmas festivities. The greatest thing about this book is the language. Often in old public domain books, the language can be difficult to read and understand for the modern-day reader; however, this book is written in very clear language, which would be understood by many. The only exception to this is some words which have changed in meaning over the years and other words such as Demon, which were spelt differently (Daemon) when the book was originally published.

There is nothing I can say I disliked about this Christmas book. It was indeed full of stories of kindness and teamwork and how we should all be friends rather than being evil and causing harm to other people. And as this is an older book, it provides the chance to get ready for Christmas with slightly different ideas and to take a step back into less commercialised Christmas materials.

I rate this book 3 stars as it was a fast-paced and interesting read which I found incredibly gripping. It proved to be a great start to my Christmas Eve, and so I would highly recommend this book no matter your age. This might even make a good bedtime story for younger children if read by parents or guardians to perhaps explain some of the terminology which has evolved in meaning over the years.