The humor puts smiles not only on kids but will have adults smirking and chuckling as well.

Elves, especially Christmas elves, aren't nearly as amazing as everyone acts like they are. Certainly not more impressive than a goblin. With carefully laid out evidence, this goblin reveals the truth behind elves...until it doesn't quite work out like he hopes.

After exploring dragons, unicorns, and yetis, the author now tackles elves in the most delightful way. It's fun to see what evidence the goblin presents (and that always in a serious tone). Especially in this book, the play on real life examples was funny...and if that doesn't have kids smiling, the more slap-stick humor toward the end of the tale will. It's a balanced mix to pull in kids and even offer adults something along the way.

The illustrations are bright and bold, and weave right in to add even more on the humor end. The comparison between elves and goblins hits especially well...and blurs lines in all the right ways. The elves come across, even when being scrutinized by the goblin, at the end in a way, which does keep the dreams of Christmas alive, making this a great holiday read. It does, however, work for any time of year, too.

With the silliness, there are also warming messages. Not only does the goblin continue (like in the other books) his mistake of building himself up by trying to shove others done, but there's also a message surrounding the value of working together as well as one concerning the importance of gathering different perspectives to make things even better. In other words, it's a read worth picking up. I received a DRC and enjoyed every page. ( )