The Santa Trap: How to Catch Santa by Jean Reagan

IT'S FINALLY CHRISTMAS EVE, AND THAT'S WHEN YOU TRY TO CATCH SANTA.

Mind you, this brother-and-sister conspiracy are not aiming to hold Santa hostage. That would be the end of Christmas as we know it. They know that Santa has a lot of stops to make, but there are some questions that generations of kids have been waiting to ask their special saint.

Like this biggy:

WHAT ABOUT HOUSES WITH NO CHIMNEYS?

But like the famous recipe for rabbit stew, before you ask those questions, you've first got to snag a Santa. Forget the silly schemes. You don't lasso Santa with last year's cowboy lariat! You don't dig a dead fall trap in the snow! No!

INSTEAD, BE CRAFTY! BE GENTLE!

Perhaps you won't actually catch Santa--or even catch a glimpse of jolly Old Saint Nick! Still, if you are clever, you can rig it so that you have clues that Santa was really and truly there!

WRITE SANTA A NOTE AND FILL IT WITH GLITTER!

But if you want more than a glittery trail for evidence of Santa's visit, you're going to want to see him in the flesh. And that means you've got to figure out how to stay awake all night. Pull out all your old games and keep playing by the light of the Christmas tree's glow. But stay quiet and listen for the telltale sounds of sleigh bells so you can zip to your hiding place for your Santa observations. And if you still fall asleep and miss the whole show, well....

"There's always next year," in Jean Reagan's How to Catch Santa (Alfred A. Knopf, 2016). Reuniting with artist Lee Wildish, Reagan takes on concocting the really serious how-to that all children have wished for, how to stay up and see Santa on the job. Even in the granddaddy of all "seeing Santa" stories, Clement C. Moore's The Night Before Christmas, Classic Edition by Clement C. Moore, (1995-01-02) it's the ever-protective and vigilant dad who really discovers St. Nicholas on the job. But that won't stop kids from conspiring to spot Santa, and who better to provide advice than Reagan and Wildish, whose earlier how-to-books, How to Raise a Mom, How to Surprise a Dad, How to Babysit a Grandpa, and How to Babysit a Grandma, have been top sellers. And for slightly younger would-be Santa spotters, there's always that evergreen Christmas classic, Rosemary Well's Max's Christmas (Max and Ruby).