1

Courtney Miller
Instructor Allison Michelli
WRTC 103
27 October 2016
Annotated Bibliography
Blair, John R. "Children's Belief in Santa Claus, Easter Bunny and Tooth Fairy." Psychological
Reports 46.3 (1980): 691-94. 01 June 1980. Web. 27 Oct. 2016.
This academic journal written by John R. Blair is a peer reviewed source which means it has
been factually checked and edited by other professionals that are from the same field of
expertise. Therefore, this is a credible source and will be appropriate to use in my paper about
how the belief in Santa Claus is good for childhood development. Dr. Blair is from Eastern
Michigan University in the Department of Educational Psychology. Due to her job she has the
credibility to inform students about the how the belief in Santa Claus effects childhood
development. In this article it explains what ages children still believed in Santa Claus and what
age majority of children stopped believing in mythical legends, like Santa Claus. This is relevant
to my paper because it helps to explain what age in a childs life that they started believing and I
can use this to show when a child is first affected by the belief.
Goldstein, Thalia R., and Jacqueline Woolley. "HO! HO! Who? Parent Promotion of Belief in
and Live Encounters with Santa Claus." Cognitive Development 39 (2016): 113-27.26
May 2016. Web. 27 Oct. 2016.
This article is from an academic journal meaning that it has been peer reviewed and factually
checked for errors in the fact. Due to that fact that the article has been peer reviewed I can
assume that this has accurate information and can be appropriately used in my essay. Goldstein
went to college at Pace University and Woolley went to University of Texas is Austin and
because of their credentials they have substance in their opinion. This article is on how children
should be taught that Santa Claus and other myths are not real and how parents should not lie to
their children about their existence. They argue that children should be taught the truth so they
learn how to distinguish fiction from reality. In my paper, I will refer to this article as counter
response to my argument by pointing out the flaws in Goldsteins and Woolleys point of view.
This will help to strengthen my point of view on the belief of the myth of Santa Claus.
Maniatacos, Jessie. "Let the Children Believe." The Record. 8 June 2008.Web. 27 Oct. 2016.

2
This source is a popular letter written by Maniatacos that was published in the newspaper, The
Record. In this letter she wrote a counter argument to a piece written by Stephanie Van Pelt in an
earlier column of the newspaper. Jessie Maniatacos is a grandmother of a nine-year old child and
because of this she reacted strongly to Stephanie Van Pelts opinion on the belief in Santa means
low intelligence. This source is biased because Maniatacos believes that her son is a smart child
and the fact that he believes in Santa should not affect how someone sees her grandchilds
intelligence. She explains how children should be allowed to live in a world of imagination,
and belief in myths like Santa Claus as long as possible to keep their sense of innocence about
the world. I am going to use this piece in the newspaper to back up my theory on how a childs
belief in myths like Santa Claus is essential to proper childhood development.

Prentice, NM, M. Manosevitz, and L. Hobbs. "Imaginary Figures of Early Childhood." American
Journal of Orthopsychiatry 48 (1978): 618-28. Web. 27 Oct. 2016.
This piece is from the academic journal, Journal of Orthopsychiatry. Prentice, Manosevitz, and
Hobbs are all from the Department of Psychology at the University of Texas. They are a credible
source because of their felid of expertise. In this journal they talk about how a childs belief in
myths such as Santa Claus are influence by parent and the age of the child when they were
exposed to the theory. They used interviews to talk to kids and gave the parents a questionnaire
to get accurate data. I can use this article in my essay to show how parents are given a choice at
the early stages of their child development to allow them to have a more creative imagination
then those who are not given the chance in believe. I am going to show how allowing the child to
have this belief will allow the child to have a more creative mind in the future.
Trumbull, Clay H. Hints on Child-training. N.P.. New York,NY: Charles Scribners Sons, 2012.
277-82. Print.
This book written by Clay Trumbull, a Sunday-school missionary, is a parents guide to training
their kids. This book is biased because of his beliefs. Trumbull uses this book to explain how
lying to children about what is real and what is not at a young age can be harmful. He explains to
the readers, parents of children, that lying to children about an imaginary thing is not what
parents should be doing. I am going to pair this article with the article written by Goldstein and
Woolley to show a counterargument. In my paper I will argue against their point of views.

Vines, Gail. "The Santa Delusion." New Scientist 196.2635-2636 (2007): 36-37.
Web. 27 Oct. 2016.

3
This information is from a periodical written by Gail. After the completion of the section Gail
goes on to refer to herself as a science writer. In this she talks about how children should be
allowed to believe in Santa Claus. She explained how it is healthy for a child to think that Santa
is real but only for a certain amount of years. In this periodical she also talks about how
believing in Santa Claus helps the child build a cultural identity. This would be helpful for my
essay because it will help me explain how by allowing a child to believe in Santa, the child will
be able to have a greater imagination and that will enhance their creativity when the child is
older. It is healthier for the child to allow them to believe in something like Santa Claus. This
argument will help me show my side of the myth.
Woolley, J.D and A. Tullos. "Imagination and Fantasy." Encyclopedia of Infant and Early
Childhood Development. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 2008. N. pag. Print.
This book by Woolley and Tullos talks about how children have several points in their childhood
that are important to their imagination. Both of these author of the book are affiliated with the
University of Texas in Austin, Texas. They have some credibility because of their association
with the University. The book explains how when children are toddlers they believe what their
parents tell them but by the time the child is about three years old they start to choose on their
own what they want to believe, like Santa Claus. This book will be appropriate for my essay
because it will help explain how the age of the child and how the help of the parent is relevant to
the creation of the childs imagination.