Top Elf

Who will fill Santa’s shiny black boots when he decides to hang up the “Big Red Suit”? In bookseller Huett’s high-energy debut, the answer is decided by a reality TV–style competition called the Santa Trials—think the Hunger Games with less bloodshed and more gingerbread. When Santa announces his plan for choosing a successor, his four children are among the contestants, as are elf best friends Ollie Gnome and Celia Pixie. The characters often talk as though they’re in the midst of a sugar rush as they attempt to avoid elimination by building high-tech sleighs and red suits, corralling flying reindeer, squeezing through tricky chimneys, and gulping down more than 100 cookies with milk. Some readers may tire of the numerous parenthetical asides and all-caps outbursts, but this whirlwind holiday escapade ends on a touching note, with lots of laughs and wild twists along the way. Ages 8–12. (Sept.)