This is a rip-roaring adventure that is fun for all the family. Like the best kids books it contains nuances and references to get the grown-ups giggling, and plenty of action so that no-one ever gets bored.
Derek Brundle wakes one day with a strange dream in his head. He finds to his horror that his hair is going grey. When you are only seven years old that is a serious matter! Fortunately an elf turns up to explain things, and he is whisked off to the South Pole (I always said they were looking for Santa Claus in the wrong place) to stand in for Santa Claus who has been kidnapped.
The descriptions of the places he goes really take you on the journey too, and I particularly love how he travels there. Sweets play a major part in modes of transport, and Elvun Dust comes in handy too. The baddie is suitably bad, and the trials that have to be overcome are dangerous and ingeniously conquered. I loved Carl Ashmore’s imagined world and his descriptions are vivid and engaging.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and recommend it to everybody – except power hungry business tycoons with no sense of humour.
The Night They Nicked Saint Nick by Carl Ashmore
