Rare Book Review

What I thought would be a brief introduction, book signing, etc. turned into a two and a half hour visit. Don recited poetry that he'd written. One in particular was titled "Christmas 1935" and told of Christmas during the Depression. My wife Sheila (that's S. Clause) took several photos of the two of us. Don gave me an official "Fred" hat and I gave him a signed acrobat. As Don was showing Sheila and me the original illustrations for the book, Don's son called (from Las Vegas, I think). Just another coincidence, but I was grateful for the opportunity to thank him for his part in the book. The illustrations are superb! You really have to see it! Don told me he and his son decided they shouldn't advertise the fact that it was a father and son team that put this together because people might think that was just for the free illustrations. So the last page of the book has "A Word about the F and S Team." Is that Fred and Santa, or Father and Son?

Well, I haven't told you much about the book. That was intentional. After all, its my website and it's Don's book. I will tell you this: I predict this book will one day be as well known and famous as "'Twas the Night Before Christmas." If you're interested in a copy for yourself, look for ISBN 0-9673504-0-9, or Library of Congress 99-97836. If that doesn't work, you can write to the publisher shown below. Or, if all that fails, use the "contact me" link on my home page and I'll do my best to get you a book.

I have a woodworking friend who has not only given me encouragement in expanding my hobby, but has also taken a few of my items to craft shows. Jim and ME (short for Merry Ellen, not me) show at a lot of craft fairs in Ohio, Indiana, and Pennsylvania, under the name of Scrolling Along. Watch for them. They have some exceptional items. During their travels, they stopped in a Christmas store and discovered a book "A Legend of Santa and His Brother Fred" by Donald G. Henkel, Illustrated by D. B. Henkel. Without opening the book, they decided they would surprise me with it at Christmas. They didn't realize how much I had in common with Fred. It goes way past the name, deep into my family.



My grandfather was Frederick Clause, as was my father. I'm just plain Fred and my grandmother, who decorated two trees every year, putting them up the middle of November and leaving them usually until the end of February, instilled in me a true love of the Christmas Season. The amazing thing about the Balsa evergreens she used is that the needles are soft and never fall off (at least that's what I remember as a child). for an old photo of this special Christmas scene.  She had a large stone church and two stone houses between the trees. The larger house was Santa's while the smaller was for the elves (ninety-seven of them according to Mr. Henkel; maybe they should have had the larger house). This is getting to be a long story...

Anyway, needless to say, I was thrilled with the book and showed it to all my family and friends. One of my sisters, Becky, even made me a "Fred" hat. Many of them wanted their own copy, so I began looking for a way to get a quantity of the books. I found the publisher, Quillpen, was located in Trenton, Michigan. What luck! My daughter lives in Detroit and we would go very close to Trenton as we made our way up I-75. Next I found a phone number, called, and left a message that I, the real Fred Clause, was interested in getting some signed copies of this tremendous book. That was the afternoon of March 15, 2002, just after releasing this site to the world. Later that night I got a call from Don's fiancée, Jan. I don't think either of them believed there was a real Fred Clause at the time, but I convinced Jan and talked to Don later that night. We met about 9:30 AM the next day.