Adventures of a Christmas Elf

Ben Miller's Adventures of a Christmas Elf is a funny Christmas diary for 8 year olds in which Father Christmas gets packed off on holiday for his own safety.

What happens

Tog is a Christmas Elf. He makes crackers in the Workshop, he's the middle child of ten, and his best friend Holly is Father Christmas's daughter. For two Christmases running, baddies have tried to steal the whole thing. Now it looks like someone's having another go.

First the sleigh reins snap. Then Father Christmas's skates are heated up at the Halloween party and he goes straight through the ice. So Tog is sent off to the Maldives to keep him hidden, while Holly stays at the North Pole to catch whoever's behind it.

It's all told as Tog's diary, day by day, and it's very funny. He's thrilled about the breakfast buffet (who wouldn't be?). Father Christmas, meanwhile, hangs a Do Not Disturb sign on his door and refuses to come out. Some entries are one line long, which tells you everything about how the holiday is going!

Tog is lovely company. He's cheerful, a bit too trusting and always ready to see the best in everybody, even a hotel cleaner who seems to be listening at doors. Your reader will probably spot a few things before he does.

The best bit is watching Father Christmas finally relax. Paddleboarding, a banana boat, a giant turtle in the lagoon. Then he discovers video games and doesn't leave his room for a week.

There's real danger in it, but it's played for laughs. An exploding teddy bear blows the head off Holly's robot Father Christmas (the head carries on chatting from the floor). Later Father Christmas lands in hospital with a bump on the head, and Tog ends up sleeping in a cardboard box in the city, looked after by a kind man called Donald. It's all handled gently, but it's there.

Holly and Tog's friendship wobbles a little too, when Holly starts spending lots of time with a new elf called Ana. Anyone who's ever felt a twinge when their best friend makes a new one will understand exactly how Tog feels.

What to read next

If they're after more of Father Christmas's secrets, The Night I Met Father Christmas is by Ben Miller too. A boy stays up on Christmas Eve to meet him, finds out he's an elf and hears how he got the job in the first place.