School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 4-Can you really have your cake and eat it, too? Sophie Kringle's Auntie Claus (Santa's sister) certainly thinks so. When Sophie has the opportunity to play the Sugar Plum Fairy in her school's presentation of The Nutcracker, she is thrilled, but also sad, because her favorite aunt will be away on her annual "business trip." Not true, insists Auntie Claus. They'll just move the North Pole to New York City. It sounds like a good idea, but of course chaos ensues. Ghosts (Christmas Past, Present, and Future), elves, reindeer, and the real Sugar Plum Fairy descend upon the Bing Cherry Hotel, and the city is covered with snow and ice. As always, Primavera's exuberant and stylized acrylic paintings fill each page with color and excitement, and interesting details reward careful viewers. Fans of the first two Auntie Claus stories will not be disappointed.-Mara Alpert, Los Angeles Public Library (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
"New York will be the new North Pole!" declares cherry-haired Auntie Claus-she's decided to forgo her annual "business trip" up north so her niece, Sophie, can perform in the school play. Christmas characters like the Sugar Plum Fairy and the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future flock to the decadent Bing Cherry Hotel, but transforming the Big Apple into the North Pole comes with humorous complications. Primavera's vibrant acrylics fill the city to the brim with holiday energy (including the milky glow of the aurora borealis), making the third in the series an enchanting spectacle. Ages 4-8. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
Santa Claus's big sister is back for a third holiday adventure with her great-niece Sophie (Auntie Claus, 1999). This time Sophie has won the part of the Sugar Plum Fairy in her dancing school's Christmas Eve performance, and Auntie Claus decides to move the whole North Pole operation to New York City so she won't miss Sophie's solo. As New York grows colder and snowier, Sophie interacts with an adult Sugar Plum Fairy from a professional ballet company, and there are frantic plot twists and turns involving too-small and missing ballet tutus. In a rushed conclusion, Auntie Claus, Sophie and the dancing-school kids fly back to the North Pole and perform the ballet there. As is often the case with later entries in a series, the bloom is off the (Christmas red) rose with this overblown effort. (Picture book. 4-7) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
