Ever wondered what happened after Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer helped Santa during a foggy Christmas Eve and became a member of Santa's reindeer team? Well the question is answered in the 1954 book Rudolph Shines Again (originally titled Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer Shines Again), which is a direct sequel to the original 1939 story.
Set on Christmas Eve a year after Rudolph became a hero at the North Pole, on Christmas Eve hours before Santa's annual delivery to children around the world. Santa chooses Rudolph to work at his workshop. However, his eight reindeer all become envious of Rudolph's fame, alongside still not respecting him by giving him a lot of work to do. As a result, Rudolph's nose briefly loses its ability to glow (and is not as shiny) after feeling put upon by the other reindeer. Ashamed for his nose not glowing, he leaves the North Pole and befriends a group of rabbits. After helping the rabbits find their missing children, Rudolph regains his confidence causing his red nose to begin glowing again. The story ends with him returning to Santa Claus
◊ to help him on another foggy Christmas Eve. Santa even changes Rudolph's job from working on toys to tasting candy for next Christmas Eve
◊ (much to the delight of Rudolph).
Like the original book, this story was written by Robert L. May, although this time with illustrations by Marion Guild rather than Denver Gillen. It sticks closer to Gillen's original Rudolph design, mixed with his design from the 1948 Mex Fleischer cartoon. ''Rudolph Shines Again" would later get paired up with the original story for a special edition
◊ honoring Rudolph's 25th Anniversary in 1964 with new illustrations
◊ by Marion Guild
◊.
Rudolph Shines Again has yet to receive an animated adaptation as its predecessor did. This story has been re-told three times in the past. First was a Golden Book adaptation released in 1982, which shortened the story alongside removing the rhyming scheme. Lisa Papp's version from 2004 and Antonio Javier's version from 2014 stick closer to the original 1954 story.
While this is a direct sequel to the original story/poem, May wrote manuscripts for "Rudolph's Second Christmas" in 1947 that remained unpublished as a book for 45 years. May's daughters and Montgomery Ward rediscovered scripts for the story in 1992 where it was given an official release to the public. An early version of "Rudolph's Second Christmas"
was heard in a 1951 record narrated by Paul Wing.
Rudolph Shines Again provides examples of:
- All of the Other Reindeer: While the reindeer celebrated Rudolph's accomplishment on helping Santa. In this story, the reindeer in the workshop alongside Santa's reindeer start acting unfriendly toward him out of envy. They even make him do the harder jobs in the workshop (such as pulling a sack of heavy toys into Santa's sleigh as the other reindeer are playing outside, and making Rudolph "the ball" during a game of football). Due to this, Rudolph's red nose briefly stops glowing after feeling put down by them.
- And Your Reward Is Edible: Near the end of the story, Santa rewards Rudolph for helping out a group of rabbits find their missing children by changing Rudolph's job from working at a workshop, to becoming a taste tester by tasting candy and sweets for next Christmas.
- Brought Down to Normal: Rudolph's nose stops glowing for a majority of the story causing him to act like a regular reindeer. His red nose does return back to glowing near the end of the story.
- Green-Eyed Monster: All of Santa's reindeer (including some inside the workshop) begin acting unfriendly towards Rudolph and claim "Rudolph gets more credit compared to them". Some of the reindeer begin picking on Rudolph once again due to becoming extremely jealous of him.
- Hard Truth Aesop: Rudolph being ostracized by the other reindeer demonstrates that sometimes your good works won't erase the hatred others have for you.
- My God, What Have I Done?: When Santa starts worrying that Rudolph won't return in time for his Christmas delivery, his eight reindeer start feeling ashamed and guilty for how meanly they treated him. When Rudolph returns, they all apologize to him.
- Rhymes on a Dime: Like the original story, the entire story is told through rhyme.
- Sweet Tooth: Rudolph is very open on becoming Santa's official taste tester after changing jobs by the end of the story. The original illustrations even shows Rudolph's thought bubble, surrounded by Christmas candy and eating a peppermint stick.◊
