Elf Trials/Tomtarnas tävling

A magical Christmas adventure with humour, warmth and full speed ahead, in 24 sufficiently long chapters to read together throughout December until Christmas Eve.

Do you want to ride in Santa’s sleigh? That’s what it says on the poster posted outside the candy store in the capital of Elfland. One of Santa’s elves has dropped out, and now eight selected elves will fight for the place in a big competition. For eight-year-old, newly arrived Noel, it would be a dream to win. Imagine getting to accompany Santa Claus to earth, give out gifts, see a real person and maybe make new friends!

But the road there is long. Together with a very small reindeer, Noel must make it through all the crazy contests – scooping reindeer poo, cutting down the best-looking Christmas tree, weathering the worst storm – all the way to the grand finale. Noel is the smallest of them all and not the best at anything in particular. Can he really make his dream come true?

Behind the story is the August Prize-winning author Johanna Thydell, with cozy and atmospheric illustrations by Lisa Moroni.