December is a great time to discuss and explore elves, but really you can do this any time of the year. This post shares books about elves that you can use for this purpose. All of the picture books on this list lend themselves to this topic really well. Take a peek below to learn more about these books about elves!
4 Books about Elves
Below is a list of some of our favorite books about elves to share with elementary students. All of them are part of our Elves Book Companion Bundle. Check them out!
1. Memoirs of an Elf by Devin Scillian
Memoirs of an Elf is told from the point of view of one of Santa’s elves. It is Christmas Eve and Santa and the elves are getting ready to go deliver presents. It’s the elves jobs to keep Santa on schedule. Santa tends to get a little distracted by all the cookies, dogs and toys. Despite running behind schedule in the beginning, Santa and the elves deliver all the toys in time and head back to the North Pole to celebrate.
As the elves unload the sleigh, they discover that something was left in Santa’s bag. It was Tugboat, someone’s dog! The group must figure out how to get Tugboat back to his family without being seen during the day. Eventually, Santa and the elves return Tugboat to his family and save Christmas!
Check out these Memoirs of an Elf teaching resources and activities to help you plan and deliver highly engaging read aloud lessons!
2. Pig the Elf by Aaron Blabey
Christmas is a time for holiday cheer and spirit. But for Pig the Elf, it is all about presents. He writes a long, long list for Santa. Pig stays up until Santa comes, and when presents are laid, he complains that there aren’t enough. He bites Santa and follows him to his sleigh!
All the meanwhile, Pig’s grateful friend Trevor is sleeping soundly in his bed. This book is a fantastic reminder for students who can be materialistic on the holiday.
Check out these Pig the Elf teaching resources and activities to help you plan and deliver highly engaging read aloud lessons!
3. How to Catch an Elf by Adam Wallace
It’s Christmas Eve and Santa is ready to deliver toys to all the boys and girls. Luckily, he has his elf there to help him through the busy night. Children used to try and catch Santa, but he was too fast for them. Now the children are trying to catch Santa’s elf!
The two set out to deliver gifts, they’re ready to navigate the traps children have set out. Throughout the night, the elf tries and avoid traps made of tinsel, tape, candy canes and lasers. One time, he even gets trapped in tape but Santa is there to help him.
Their final stop of the night is at a grocery store. There, an avalanche of food makes a big mess and a cannon sends the two flying through the store. Thankfully, Santa and his elf make sure a great team they are able to deliver all the gifts safely. When the night is done, the two share a pizza and celebrate their success!
Check out these How to Catch an Elf teaching resources and activities to help you plan and deliver highly engaging read aloud lessons!
4. Elf by David Berenbaum
Kim Smith has turned the popular Christmas movie, Elf, into a beautifully illustrated picture book. Students will enjoy listening to this retelling of their favorite movie.
When a baby made his way back to the North Pole in Santa’s sack one Christmas Eve, an older elf decided to adopt the baby and name him Buddy. While Buddy grew faster than all the other children, he had more Christmas spirit than anyone. However, when Buddy was older, he learned that his real father, Walter was on the naughty list.
Buddy was determined to go to New York City to meet his father. He made the long journey into the city where life was very different. When Buddy finally met his father, he came to understand why he was on the naughty list. Walter was a grumpy man who prioritized work over his family. He did not take much of an interest in Buddy.
Buddy was able to find Christmas spirit in the city thanks to Jovie, a girl who worked at a department store. Buddy came to really like Jovie as they shared a love for Christmas. When Buddy tried to tell his father this during an important meeting, Walter yelled at Buddy. This caused Buddy to run away. However, on his way out of the city, Buddy ran into Santa. His sleigh couldn’t fly because there was not enough Christmas spirit. Meanwhile, Buddy’s father Walter and his son Michael were out searching for Buddy. They were able to lift Christmas spirit by singing carols outside the park and Santa’s sleigh was able to fly.
Walter learned the importance of family and Buddy was able to spend Christmas doing all of his favorite things with those he loved most. Check out these Elf resources and activities to help you plan and deliver highly engaging read aloud lessons!
Get All of the Elf Book Activities!
Scoop up all of the activity packets based on the picture books featured in this post!
Teachers Love these Other Elf Activities for Kids
We have lots of elf activities you can use in your classroom. Check out the blog post Elves Activities for Kids to get more ideas and teaching resources!
Or Get All of the Activity Packets for 600+ Picture Books!
Starts with a Story is a collection of hundreds of book companions based on high quality children’s literature that support you in delivering highly-engaging interactive read alouds with follow up activities. Each book companion includes:
- reading comprehension questions with sample student responses
- 30 writing prompts targeting 10 different types of writing
- SEL lesson ideas based on character and events from each story
- printable student activities
- editable teaching slides with book-based clipart
- and more.
Learn how to get unlimited access to all 600+ book companion packets below!
Elf Activities
One Last Thing Before You Go… Grab this Free Reading Resource!
If you want to get more book ideas to read aloud to your elementary students, then grab this reading freebie for 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade classroom teachers. It includes:
- seasonal read aloud books lists for teachers
- printable reading logs to track students’ reading
- monthly reading challenges to motivate students to read more
It will have you covered for the entire school year, as well as the summer months! Grab this free elementary reading packet now!
In closing, we hope you found this list of books about elves helpful! If you are a member of Starts With a Story, you have access to all of these book companion activities. Lastly, you may also be interested in these winter books for kids if you love read alouds like us!
