For most Christians, Christmas is dominated by tradition: above all by family gatherings complete with the decorated tree, dinner with all the trimmings, and presents. Margaret Laurence’s Christmas story, The Olden Days Coat, first published in 1979 and now reissued by Tundra Books, has some of these traditional qualities.

The story can easily be classifed as a simple time-travel fantasy, but it fits better into a category I like to call enchanted realism – a gentle fantasy that seems made of gossamer. Yet take away the air of wonder, mystery, and strangeness and what remains is a strong framework of realism. It is this aspect of the tale that works best. The Olden Days Coat is not a great fantasy but it is charming and well crafted. Laurence obeyed all the traditional rules of the genre, in particular the one that discourages the entry of adults into the magic (many recent fantasists break this rule, to the detriment of their tales). The NFB film version of the story frequently surfaces on television at Christmastime. This reissue may well become a Christmas special because of the new illustrations. Although by the same artist, Muriel Wood, they are bright and bold in contrast to the muted tones of the first edition. They stand out strongly against the dazzling village snow. It is the kind of “book beautiful” we are used to seeing from Tundra.

As pleasing as The Olden Days Coat is, it is difficult to believe that it was written by the author of the powerful Manawaka novels, which inspired a generation of Canadian writers and gained wide acclaim. It raises the question of why our successful authors for adults rarely attempt a book for children and when they do, it is far from memorable. Just think of the British and American writers who have turned their talents to children’s books that have long outshone their adult works: Charles Kingsley, Lewis Carroll, George MacDonald, Rudyard Kipling, J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, A.A. Milne, Mark Twain, and E.B. White. A salute should go to Roderick Haig-Brown for Starbuck Valley Winter and to Farley Mowat for Owls in the Family and even for Lost in the Barrens, all groundbreaking works in Canadian children’s literature. However, other Canadian writers have gone in chiefly for cuteness and triviality. Mazo de la Roche’s The Song of Lambert is about an anthropomorphized lamb that I longed to have converted into lamb chops as soon as possible. Mordecai Richler’s Jacob Two-Two books are humorous but light and slick. Marion Engel’s children’s books are long out of print and Margaret Atwood’s recent picture book, Princess Prunella and the Purple Peanut, is only partially redeemed by its illustrator. What is it with leading Canadian authors that they appear incapable of rising to standards of other national literatures in the writing of children’s books? The answer may well lie in their refusal to accept C.S. Lewis’s advice in his article “On Three Ways of Writing for Children”: you write a children’s story “because a children’s story is the best art-form for something you have to say.”

The Christmas Orange by Don Gillmor is a morality tale in picture book format that mocks our materialistic world through the demands of a six-year-old boy for Christmas presents. Anton gives a department store Santa a 16-page list of his demands and when he receives only an orange under the tree on Christmas morning, he and his lawyer sue Santa for breach of promise in what is described as the “Trial of the Century.” However, Santa annuls the process by announcing his resignation: he will no longer be the bearer of gifts; after all, no one has given him a present for a long time. Anton has a sudden change of heart and solves the impasse by offering Santa his tiny, perfect Christmas orange.

This is a trendy addition to the store of secular Christmas books. Although the text could stand some polishing, Marie-Louise Gay’s illustrations are most effective. Her full-page drawing of a dejected Santa (dressed in blue rather than his traditional red) is worth the price of the book.

Books with a Christmas theme will continue to appear each year given the ingenuity of both writers and illustrators. I await an ecumenical picture book and also perhaps a Canadian version of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.