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First Impression: Pre-Christmas Cheer that sees Santa and his reindeer rush to complete a mountain rescue after his elves absconder.

Santa's Lost Elves book cover

The third book in the Santa’s Lost series is Santa’s Lost Elves by Rachel Hilz. The comical children’s Book is a rhyming, rhythmical wonder that akes place in the lead up to Christmas. What is quite novel about the book is that we often see stories where a hero needs to save Santa in order to save Christmas whereas this book sees Santa being asked to save his crew in order to make the main event happen.

I thank Netgalley for providing a copy of this book so that I would have th eopportunity to review it.

Waking up one morning, Santa finds all his elves have absconded but figures they can’t have gone far. Searching high and low around his property, there’s not an elf to be seen and Santa can’t work out why. Just as well we are in the digital era and just about everyone has a phone. Giving them a video call he is told that a mishap on an excursion sees the elves stranded and unable to get themselves to safety. With a sleigh that needs packing with presents, and time of the essence does Santa tackle the delivery himself or continue searching for his friends? And what are the consequences of his choice?

The ABCB rhyming scheme of this book gave it a great flow with perfect rhymes. The language was appropriate for the target audience of 4-8 yield olds, although I would argue that younger children would also appreciate this book. The illustrations by Remesh Ram are big, bold, and beautiful and match the wording perfectly. Most of the pictures are double page spreads with cartoonish characters, much like the illustrations of the Beano characters.

I like the originality within this book where it is less about Christmas and more about the preparation beforehand. We only know Christmas has happened because of a single line in the poem. Reading this to my sons brought us a lot of laughs and awed expressions as we took time pouring over the images. We also found one reading wasn’t enough and returned for an immediate second visit where the reading was just as enjoyable as the first time despite knowing what was going to happen.

Overall, the book is well edited. The grammar and spelling is error-free. The level is as you would expect for the audience. There were no complex words that gave cause to stop and provide explanation, all of which created a highly professional finish. We might just have to get the rest of the series now.

Quick Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ ⭐/ G Rated

Have you say: When you’re not looking for Christmas themed books, what do you like to do over the holidays? The Papergirl Community awaits your thoughts in the comments below.

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