GENRE: STEM/STEAM, Holiday, Informational Fiction
WORDS: 834
Query:
Dear PB Party Team, Agents, and Editors,
Seventy years ago, a new holiday tradition came into being—one that started with a wrong number. Instead of reaching the North Pole, a child’s telephone call rang on a desk in a top-secret military office in Colorado. The surprising result? Each Christmas Eve, a military program brings joy as people who track Santa’s sleigh as it zips across the globe. Now, tens of millions track the man in red through NORAD’s website, app and social media. And some, like that first child, get the latest update on Santa by phone.
TRACKING SANTA: THE GIFT OF NORAD’S HOLIDAY TRADITION (Informational Fiction, 876 words) tells the history and operations of NORAD’s Santa Tracker while keeping the magic and mythology of Santa alive. The availability of public source media means that this book could potentially be photo illustrated.
My story combines the desire to spot Santa found in How to Catch Santa (Dragonfly Books 2020) with the spirt of giving in Out and About: A Tale of Giving (Kalaniot 2023). Like The Courageous Six Triple Eight (Capstone 2022), it tells the story of a fascinating military program.
The one book about NORAD’s program is The Night Santa Got Lost: How NORAD Saved Christmas (Regnery Kids, 2012; re-issue planned for September 2025 by Skyhorse Publishing under the title Operation Santa Claus). My story differs significantly from this one in that mine tells the origin and history of the Santa Tracker program, while this imagines what might happen if Santa were caught in a blizzard.
I am active in the children’s writing community and served for over three years as Co-Regional Advisor for the Rocky Mountain Chapter of SCBWI. I have books on climate change and mental health with the education market, and my debut trade book is slated for publication with Holiday House in 2026.
I would like to express my appreciation to all of you for being a part of PB Party, and thank you for considering this manuscript.
Excerpt:
One Christmas tradition started with a telephone call. It was supposed to be a phone call to Santa.
But instead of reaching the North Pole, a phone rang in Colorado at the desk of Colonel Harry Shoup. He was just a regular Air Force colonel… with a top-secret job.
Colonel Shoup tracked UFOs—unidentified flying objects. You’re probably thinking space aliens.
He wasn’t looking for those.
What inspired you to write this story & what do you have in common with it:
I love Christmas and all its many traditions, but I was drawn to this story because my family has a long history of military service. The Tracking Santa program is beloved by millions of people of all ages, yet it is also an integral piece of military history. In working on this manuscript, my goal was to thread the needle — to try to tell a history that could be enjoyed by children and which would keep the mythology of Santa intact.
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