PEPPERMINT POST

How do children’s letters to Santa reach their destination? Via Peppermint Post, of course!

Buck, an anthropomorphic polar bear, is postmaster of the Peppermint Post, which means he’s in charge of ensuring that Santa receives all the letters children send him. His job is especially demanding during the Christmas rush, and luckily, he has a team of penguins to assist him (the text eventually acknowledges that these birds “belong at the South Pole, not the North!”). Alas, just when Buck thinks all the mail has been handled and Santa departs for his Christmas Eve trip, he finds an errant letter. Buck scrambles to right this wrong, enlisting the penguins to pull him in a backup sleigh to go off in pursuit of Santa and his reindeer (the text also acknowledges that penguins are flightless birds). Hijinks ensue in the chase, with Laberis’ cartoony art working overtime to augment the humor of “a hairy shortcut” through a train tunnel, among other mishaps. Buck and his team eventually catch up with St. Nick at the house of the child who wrote the misplaced letter. More slapstick scenes arise in this setting, though readers may close the book scratching their heads rather than laughing as Santa, the reindeer, the penguins, and Buck all depart the house together, without any indication of what’s become of the backup sleigh.

Funny—but not funny enough.