Books for Santa Claus

Christmas is one of the liveliest moments when it comes to book publishing, especially if we think about the offer for children and teenagers. It's gift-giving time and publishers are firing all their editorial cartridges hoping to conquer ever larger slices of a market that offers almost eight thousand titles every year for a turnover of almost 250 million euros.

One of the characteristics of Christmas publishing is that publishers challenge each other to a duel, focusing above all on tradition. During the Christmas period, the greatest success is achieved by well-tested and traditional editorial products. Santa Claus always goes, fairy tales and stories related to the Christmas tree, reindeer, elves. The Advent calendar in all its forms is back in fashion. In short, we focus on the most well-known themes, to which we are most related. Even if publishers and authors indulge themselves by offering reinterpretations of tradition in step with times of gender equality. For example, if a big problem happened up there at the North Pole, Santa Claus hurt himself on his skis and won't be able to drive his sleigh, what does he do?

Simone Frasca in his " Zia Natale " (Il Battello a Vapore, 2023, pp. 48) calls the sister of the dear old man (Aunt Natale, precisely) as a substitute, even if she is messy, loves the heat and is allergic to reindeer! Always on the subject of tradition, Christmas is the time for the great classics , an editorial time in which Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol is recovered. Or we turn to the classics of our times and characters that are now well-established such as Harry Potter, the Wimpy Kid are popular or Geronimo Stilton , perhaps involved in events related to Christmas. This is also a sign of how Christmas is one of the most consolidated traditions and it is really difficult to focus on new things in a period like this.

In all this confusion of traditions, what is blowing, at least in generalist publishing houses, is a highly secular wind far from any connection with Christmas as a religious holiday. Therefore, elves and elves, reindeer and sleighs triumph, while the huts, the shepherds, the ox and the donkey are missing. A sign of the times even though Christmas books, fortunately, still harbor good feelings, affection, the search for peace and serenity.

In the end, Geronimo Stilton himself gives us the most Christmassy of "happy endings". In the volume just released and entitled " A tender, tender Christmas story " (Piemme, 2023, pp. 48), Geronimo, on Christmas Eve, while there is snow outside, suddenly finds himself alone. So, to chase away the melancholy, he goes out for a walk in Topazia, under the snow. He meets so many new friends and, when he returns home, he will find a surprise... cuter than mozzarella!