Max Fernsby and the Infinite Toys

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.)