Author uses Santa to broaden kids’ perspective

A children’s book author hopes that her new Christmas story will help kids realize that they can have an impact on global warming. “Santa Goes Green” (Mackinac Island Press, $15.95) is the story of a boy, Finn, who writes Santa and asks him to help raise awareness about global warming. Finn is interested in the issue because he has adopted a polar bear, and polar bears are losing habitat to global warming. He tells Santa he does not need any toys for Christmas, but instead wants the jolly old elf’s help. “Santa can do anything in (Finn’s) mind,” says author and publisher Anne Margaret Lewis.

The book has sold about 13,000 copies since the small Traverse City, Mich., children’s books publisher put a previewable version online last month (at mackinacislandpress.com). Now in its second printing, it’s a runaway hit.

Librarians across the country are ordering “Santa,” says associate publisher Brian Lewis. “It’s really word-of-mouth, people buying copies,” he says.

ExtraordinaryMommy.com blogger Danielle Smith bought “Santa” after looking at it online.

“(Its) artistry is so rich, and the story is so sweet and well-told,” Smith says. “I think that it resonates this time of year.

“And green is something we try to do in little bits and pieces, and when you have it in front of you, it’s tangible on a child’s level.”

The project is a Lewis family affair. Anne, who has written 10 children’s books, has been married to Brian for 22 years. Their son, Cameron, who is 6, gave her the idea for the book.

Early last summer, Anne and Cameron were reading a National Geographic article about how global warming has melted glaciers, which in turn reduced places for bears to live and hunt.

“He asked how we could help the polar bears, so we started going around the house every time we left a room and shut the lights off,” she says. “Then we would say, ‘We just saved another polar bear.’ I was trying to convince him that you can make a difference, and it worked.“

That got Lewis to wondering whether she could write a book that would pass along the feeling.

“I wanted it to be about polar bears because of how it came to be,” she says. “And then I thought, ‘Who would a child think is the most powerful person who could help him do that? Santa.’ The story just started evolving.”

Glad tidings continue to come in for “Santa Goes Green.” Possibly under Christmas trees next year: Gund plush toys of Finn and Leopold, the polar bear.

And a movie could be in the works.

“When I saw the illustrations and saw the story, I just thought it could really be a good children’s story,“ says Penny Milliken, one of two former Disney executives whose new edu-tainment firm, SeaStars Partnership, secured the rights.

“The time is right for it,” she says.