Caldecott Medal, Kate Greenaway Medal, Boston Globe-Horn Book Award
New York Times Children's Book of the Year Award-winning author
Picture book superstars Mac Barnett and John Klassen's new 2023 releases
“If it’s Mac and John’s Christmas story, then that’s good!”

Mac Barnett and John Klassen, winners of powerful picture book awards around the world, including the Caldecott Medal, the Boston Globe Horn Book Award, and the Kate Greenaway Medal, have teamed up once again.
This time it's a Christmas story.
The two authors raised the question that everyone wonders at least once during their childhood: "How does Santa come to our house?"
It's a surprising, if stale, question, but what if it were the imagination unleashed by a duo of picture book superstars who "consistently answer even the most mundane questions with ingenuity"? Wouldn't you want to open the book right away, willingly?
With each new release, readers' expectations grow, and this time, too, the two authors have not lost their individuality, and have returned with a wonderful Christmas gift filled with their sincere love for children and picture books!

Mac Barnett Santa with his big story bag and John Klaassen Rudolph, who is serious but bouncy.
A cheerful carol-like picture book by a fantastic picture book partner!
_ Kang Su-jin ((Let's Play Teacher) _ Elementary School Teacher)

A great mystery that no one in the world has been able to solve
“How does Santa get into our house?”

How does Santa get into our house? Mac Barnett and John Klassen, friends and picture book collaborators for 15 years, put their heads together.
Santa sometimes shrinks down to enter houses through chimneys, and he even washes his clothes when they get dirty from the chimney soot.
It delivers laughter with solutions that are both ridiculous and plausible, from traditional methods like going in and out through water pipes or opening doors with keys to modern methods like 'spy glasses'.
As the night deepens, Santa's antics and wit increase, and the scene where he places a gift box under the Christmas tree seems to foreshadow a 'Christmas miracle'!

Mac Barnett constantly throws in mischievous jokes based on questions that everyone has wondered about at least once in their childhood, and Jon Klassen responds with a convincing, retro-inspired tone.
Mac Barnett says, “This new work is in the form of text captioned under humorous pictures that you might see in an old newspaper. It has a comfortable, warm, and emotional feel that you don’t see in John’s previous work.”
This winter, it will be the perfect Christmas gift for many adults who miss their childhood and children who desperately want Santa to come to their homes!

“So what? It’s good that you came!”
_ A Christmas dinner filled with jokes, a mystery ending, wit and humor!

The speaker ends the story by casually blurting out, “So what? It’s good to be here!” at the very end.
So what does it matter how Santa comes?
Anyway, if Santa comes, it will burst out like a celebratory cannon with exclamations of how happy I would be! This is the special characteristic of Mac Barnett & John Klassen! Interacting with readers through conciseness, cynical wit and humor, and open endings! Mac Barnett's humor of casually throwing in jokes without a story and wrapping up with a mystery until the end, John Klassen created unique Santa and reindeer characters that no one can imitate, creating a strong atmosphere with just black and achromatic colors.
He also expresses rich emotions with just his eyes and responds with John Klassen's signature joke(?).
(Don't miss the fantastic chemistry between Santa and his reindeer that appears throughout the work!)

Behind the fun and laughter, the two authors' deep affection and interest in the world are revealed.
In the work, just as white snow falls heavily on Christmas Eve, the warmth and affection that comes from Christmas, the happiness, exciting anticipation and hope, tolerance and mercy, and earnest miracles are conveyed in the hope that they will pour down on the whole world.


[Author's Note_From an Interview with Design Press]

John and I love funny books.
"How Does Santa Get Down the Chimney?" is especially full of jokes.
Rather than a story development, it is a format where text is attached like a caption to an interesting illustration.
It's a retro composition, like something you'd see in an old newspaper.
First of all, I showed the joke and then showed what was behind it.
In particular, it is a comfortable, warm, and quite emotional work that cannot be seen in John's previous work.

_ Mac Barnett

I often work on dry satire, avoiding sentimentality.
The theme of this year's 『How Does Santa Go Down the Chimney?』, 'Christmas,' is deeply connected to childhood.
I tried to naturally convey sentimentality, but not go too far in a nostalgic direction.
I tried to make people remember that atmosphere through jokes, and also to make them move to a certain space through that atmosphere.
I tried to make a fun, if a bit cynical, book with a lot of affection.

_ John Klassen