“Due to the title, I was expecting a ‘feel good’ Hallmark type Christmas story. Instead, I was pleasantly surprised to see that this was a historical fiction book about the ‘Yes, Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus’ girl who eventually became the principal of a New York hospital school during the polio epidemic in the early ‘50s. It was one of those books where I ended up staying up late until I finished it. I will be looking for more books by this author. ”

“... To me, the mark of a good book – of a great book – is when you’re too tired to keep reading and your eyelids feel like paperweights, yet you keep reading. And reading. And then you go back a page or two as you say to yourself, “did I really just read that?” and you read it again ... Both heartwarming and heart wrenching, ‘The Santa Claus Girl’ is satisfyingly sandwiched between slices of joy and genius. And though I am not, by education or job requirement, a person who reviews books, I am a reader and a writer and when a book entertains me – when it liberates me – I want to share what I discovered between its pages.”

“… intriguing … timely … The author shows an enviable ability to give voice to her characters’ deepest emotions, as in a heartfelt inner monologue by Megan’s mother, as she wonders if her daughter will survive ...”

“Goodin debuts with a warmhearted story of a community struggling to navigate a 1952 outbreak of polio ... Goodin handles these weighty topics with care and delicacy, evoking the terror surrounding the unknowns of a disease without a viable vaccine but also the community’s unwavering spirit as they unite to support the hospital’s work. ”