Benjamin P. Blizzard: Welcome to Christmastown by Karen L. Nivens

• 12/17/2013
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Benjamin P. Blizzard: Welcome to Christmastown
Karen L. Nivens
Living Waters Publishing (2007)
ISBN 9780979815416
Reviewed by Cayden (age 4) and Max (age 2) Aures and Mom for Reader Views (6/08)

“Benjamin P. Blizzard: Welcome to Christmastown” is the story about a polar bear, Benjamin Polarcap Blizzard (“Benny” for short), and his family who move to Christmastown, North Pole shortly before Easter.  Benny’s mother, Beatrice, was a respected doctor among polar bears and moved the family to Christmastown so that she could take over retiring Dr. Aloe-Elf’s medical practice.  Benny’s father, Bernard, was an inventor and an engineer and impressed Santa and Mrs. Claus with his work that they gave him the title of First Chief Design-Engineer.

The book centers on 5-year-old Benny who “was a curious, adventurous, and rambunctious delight of a cub.”  He made friends with the elf children but found he was not quite as nimble as them; in fact, he was very clumsy compared to them.  Even though Benny has a mishap that could have been devastating, Santa shows everyone the good in it and a lesson is learned.

Cayden:  “Why aren’t there hardly any pictures in this book?  There are a lot of words!”

Max:  “Bear fall!”

Cayden:  “Mom- I think he wrecked all of the toys!!”

Cayden:  “We leave out cookies and milk for Santa too.”

Cayden:  “His mommy and daddy don’t know where he is!  They are worried!”

Parent’s comments:
This book was sent to us as “preschool reviewers” and though it is a good story I think it was a little too long (41 pages) for the preschool age group.  I had a hard time getting my children interested in the book in the beginning, but once the character of Benny was introduced my 4-year-old took more interest.  However, the lack of illustrations made it hard to keep him involved in the book.  Sometimes ten pages go by without a picture and with 100+ words per page that is a long time for a little one not to have anything visual to look at.

We are all familiar with the classic Christmas and North Pole books and it is refreshing to see a new story from such a classic theme.   The storyline of “Benjamin P. Blizzard: Welcome to Christmastown” was positive and original.  I think that this book would be better suited for an older school-age child as it was a little overwhelming for my preschool-aged children.