I’d never read the original story of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer by Robert Lewis May until this month. In simple rhymes, Rudolph’s story goes beyond the song. As in the song, Rudolph is ridiculed and outcast because of his red nose. The paragraphs of the rhyming poem expand on the familiar song story, with details on how Santa finds Rudolph’s bright nose (he was delivering presents to Rudolph’s room). The stanzas are long, and in some respects the song is more interesting since it is much more concise. I like the complete story of Rudolph, but it does feel long for a read-aloud.
The original story, written as promotional brochure for a department story in 1939. The pencil illustrations are only black and white, with occasional red coloring. As a promotional booklet, it was not published in hardcover, and the hand lettering gives it a unique look. However, the art is not fantastic: they look like draft sketches, and the art looks quite dated.
A more recently illustrated version, illustrated by David Wenzel (Grosset & Dunlap 2001), gives this story a bright and engaging cartoon look, which was lacking in the original art. The words are (as far as I can tell) the same as the words in the original poem. Wenzel’s book is in an oversized hardcover format and modern illustrations feature not just a variety of reindeer but also human children asleep in bed. Although it is still a long story, the more familiar illustrations make it much more approachable.
I love the Santa tradition: the red fur coat, the cookies and milk, the reindeer. When I was young, we left not only cookies and milk for Santa but also parsley for the reindeer. I love Santa’s friends: Rudolph, Frosty the Snowman, Mrs. Claus, and so many more. (We got presents not just from Santa but from his friends.) I love Christmas Carols, even in the stores in late November. And I love all the characters that we now associate with Christmas, because we met them first in books
