Samurai Santa

Starred review from September 14, 2015
Yukio is a dutiful ninja, but all he wants for Christmas is an “epic” snowball fight with his brethren. (They refuse, not wanting to end up on Santa’s “naughty” list.) Determined “to run Santa out of Ninja Village,” Yukio sounds the alarm when Santa arrives; the young ninjas successfully chase off the “intruder,” who is soon replaced by a mysterious samurai with a snowman army—giving Yukio his snowball fight after all. A muted red-and-blue palette, exuberantly playful typography, and some Crouching Tiger–worthy action sequences (“Ninjas and snowmen clashed!!!” writes Pingk as the opposing forces fly toward each other across a snowy field) combine to create a frenzied, fun, and nontraditional Christmas tale. It’s an impressively disciplined debut for Pingk and, just as important, a blast to read. Ages 4–8. Agent: Carrie Hannigan, Hannigan Salky Getzler Agency.

September 1, 2015
A mischievous little ninja scares Santa away and then receives an unexpected gift in the form of a huge snowball fight. The young ninja, Yukio, wants to stage a snowball battle on Christmas Eve, but all the other ninjas are staying home and behaving so they will receive their presents from Santa. Yukio doesn't care about presents, so he uses ninja tactics to sneak up on Santa and startle him by ringing a huge, noisy gong and rallying the other ninjas to scare away the intruder. When a mysterious samurai arrives with an army of snowmen, all the little ninjas do battle with the snowmen in an "epic snowball fight," just as Yukio had wanted, though the samurai disappears. On Christmas morning Yukio is worried that he has ruined Christmas for all the other ninjas, but everyone gets Christmas gifts from Santa. Yukio receives a snowman's hat and carrot nose and a letter from Samurai Santa indicating that the snowman battle was his special gift. Computer-generated illustrations use a limited palette of black, red, white, and soft gray, with the text set in a casual, modern typeface. A large format with landscape orientation provides plenty of room for the ninja-snowman battle scenes and the resolution on Christmas morning. The text never addresses the question of how these feudal Japanese assassins came to believe in Santa in the first place. This unusual if culturally hegemonic Christmas story will appeal to kids interested in ninjas and samurais and, of course, to any kids who like an epic snowball fight. (Picture book. 4-8)

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October 1, 2015

PreS-Gr 2-When little ninja Yukio is denied an epic snowball fight on Christmas Eve because all the other little ninjas are on their best behavior in anticipation of Santa's arrival, he decides Santa must be chased away from Ninja Village. Yukio carefully plans his ambush and tricks the other ninjas into helping him run off the mysterious stranger in red, who then reappears as a samurai leading an army of snowball-wielding snowmen. An epic battle ensues. However, at the end, Yukio realizes he may have ruined Christmas for his ninja friends with his trick...but no, the snow battle turns out to have been Samurai Santa's holiday gift to Yukio all along. Digitally rendered illustrations give a flavor of more formal Japanese art mixed in with Sunday comics, which mashes up nicely with the Saturday matinee-tinged text that just begs to be performed in a reader's most dramatic voice. VERDICT A super fun holiday read-aloud that should delight little ninjas everywhere.-Mara Alpert Los Angeles Public Library

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