mixed habitat & densely vegetated hiding places

In 1960s Manhattan, a young African-American boy connects with his grandfather, who is a bus driver and self-taught historian known for sharing tales of New York's history along his route. On Christmas Eve, the bus gets stuck in a sudden blizzard, and to pass the time until they're rescued, Grandpa tells a Christmas story to his grandson and a diverse group of riders. His story involves Saint Nicholas and his companion Zwarte Piet [cn: blackface images], a figure from Dutch folklore, coming to what was then New Amsterdam to bring some much-needed fellowship, diplomacy, and miracles to the struggling colony at a time when it was on the brink of war with the Lenape people.

In 1998 I don't think I had even heard of Zwarte Piet, but in more recent years I know there have been efforts to either phase out or reinvent the character, who was traditionally portrayed in blackface, so it was interesting to read this earlier attempt to reimagine him. Here, he is Saint Nicholas's equal and best friend—intelligent and practical, imperfect and human.

This is a children's book so nothing is too graphic, but slavery and religious persecution are acknowledged as part of reality in both Europe and the colonies. And while the story obviously centers on Christmas and a Christian saint, it is directly pointed out that not everyone is Christian and that's perfectly okay. The Lenape characters are sympathetic, but I would have liked to see it made clearer that Manhattan is their own land and that the presence of the Dutch colonists there is not morally neutral. That's the main misstep I was able to see in a story that is otherwise very careful not to explicitly or implicitly endorse marginalization of any other groups while attempting to rehabilitate this controversial Black character.

I'm neither Black nor Dutch, so I'm far from the most qualified person to comment on how successful the rehabilitation is. But reading from my own perspective, I found the book and its characters charming. I liked the emphasis on found family and finding strength in each other's differences, as well as the fanciful blending of tales and lore from diverse times and places, reflecting the diverse heritage both of the characters and of their New York setting.