82. How to Catch an Elf, by Adam Wallace

 

82. How to Catch an Elf, by Adam Wallace


Wallace, A. (2016). How to catch an elf. Naperville, IL: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky. 

The elf narrator is the sole helper traveling with Santa on his delivery rounds on Christmas Eve.  Every house seems to have a different type of elf trap. The elf avoids a mechanical “elf snatcher,” hidden in a plate of cookies.   There are also simple traps made of tinsel, double-sided tape, and a cardboard box concealing a mean-looking cat. Another trap looks like a bomb hidden in a box of candy, and a complicated trap in a maze has an evil cowboy clown with a branding iron.  The final trap is located in a family grocery store that’s booby-trapped with a “Dinner Cannon” shooting out food, including a final pizza that the elf and Santa share.

The book has rhyming text that is fun to read.  It has some unconventional Christmas twists and turns.   Of course, this would be a book to read during the Holiday Season.  You could do a compare and contrast book with this story and maybe an older, more traditional story like Twas the Night Before Christmas. I found several activities where students design their own elf trap.  The first web site is a writing kit from Teachers Pay Teachers.  Students write a plan about how they would trap an elf.  They could also actually design and build their own elf trap.

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/How-To-Catch-An-Elf-Writing-Project-Craft-Writing-Project-and-Bulletin-Board-4233465?utm_source=TFOTC&utm_campaign=How%20to%20Catch%20an%20Elf  

 

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