Publishers Weekly
08/28/2023
Two calamity-prone elves and three human friends team up to save Santa’s bag from an avaricious e-tailer in this madcap Christmas adventure from screenwriters Swallow and Gaulke. Lost out of Santa’s sleigh during an elfin pizza run, the famous sack lands on the head of 10-year-old Max Fernsby, who lives with foster parents following his mother’s death. Max—whose lean allowance recently saw him sledding on a rusty bedpan rather than a toboggan—quickly discovers that the bag magically supplies any toy he asks for, and begins to conjure more for sale, undercutting Rainforest.com’s prices in a neighborhood that just lost its last toy store. But Rainforest.com founder and CEO Steve Bozeman is watching Max closely after a sledding collision, and he soon plots to steal the sack, just as elves Eldor and Skhiff—recently demoted to fertilizer relocation engineers—work to retrieve the bag. Though the plotting is formulaic, nonstop action and toilet humor will find their audience in this double debut filled with “high jinks, shenanigans... tomfoolery... funny business... horseplay, and... buffoonery.” Occasional b&w cartoons from Kissi render most protagonists with pale skin. Ages 8–12. (Sept.)
From the Publisher
Opening with a promise that readers have never heard a Christmas story quite like this one, Swallow and Gaulke certainly deliver in the unique zany shenanigans department.” — Kirkus Reviews
”Nonstop action and toilet humor will find their audience in this double debut filled with ‘high jinks, shenanigans... tomfoolery... funny business... horseplay, and... buffoonery.’” — Publishers Weekly
Fast-paced and laced perfectly with a little irreverent humor. Highly recommended. — School Library Journal
School Library Journal
10/27/2023
Gr 3–6—Eldor and Skhiff, two elves who are abject failures at the North Pole, are seemingly always in trouble. They kick up their antics a notch when they borrow Santa's sleigh one night and lose his famous red sack. Falling from the sleigh, the sack lands on the head of Max Fernsby, a foster kid with skinflint guardians who only want chores done and a check in their hands. However, Max and his two friends, Baxter and Leoni, make their own fun through numerous adventures. The only element missing in the story is, of course, a greedy toy maker. Enter Steve Bozeman, CEO of Rainforest.com, who finds fun in forcing small toy stores out of business. The antics of the elves, the action of Max and his friends, and the cruelty of Bozeman are revealed in alternating chapters, but all the seemingly unrelated story lines come together at the end where the narrator is also revealed. Constant action, comic situations, and sarcastic banter make for a fun ride all the way to the end of the story, where there's a great surprise for readers. VERDICT Fast-paced and laced perfectly with a little irreverent humor. Highly recommended.—Laura Fields Eason
Kirkus Reviews
2023-08-12
A young boy comes into possession of a miraculous bag.
Two weeks before Christmas, the continued shenanigans of North Pole elves Eldor and Skhiff result in their being given the less-than-desirable job of “fertilizer relocation engineer” (shoveling reindeer poop). Meanwhile, a 10-year-old foster child named Max Fernsby takes an ill-fated, snowy bedpan ride (he and his friends couldn’t afford a toboggan)…and winds up careening into Steve Bozeman, the greedy CEO of Rainforest.com. Though the kids run off, they haven’t seen the last of Bozeman. When a hankering for pizza prompts Eldor to borrow Santa’s sleigh, an almost-collision sends Santa’s red bag falling through the sky onto Max’s head. The bag produces whatever toy he asks for, and he and his friends start a business to support themselves and provide presents to the neighborhood at much lower prices than Rainforest.com offers. The elves need to find that bag, especially before Bozeman gets his hands on it! Opening with a promise that readers have never heard a Christmas story quite like this one, Swallow and Gaulke certainly deliver in the unique zany shenanigans department. Despite a couple of missteps—a key beat of the climax happens abruptly offscreen, and the end has an odd twist—young readers looking for humor with a holiday twist will have fun here. Occasional illustrations depict the primary characters as light-skinned, though people of color appear, too.
General tomfoolery, affectionate and otherwise. (Fiction. 8-11)
