Ben Whitehouse is an illustrator born and raised in Birmingham, UK. At the moment, he lives in Chepstow, Wales with his lovely girlfriend, Yvonne, and their crazy border collie named Sparrow. Ben has worked at Aardman features as an assistant animator. He has also worked in the animation industry as a character designer, animator and stop motion puppet maker before finding his happy feet within the world of illustration.
Steve the Christmas elf is in the North Pole, busy making toys for the big day. But he suddenly wonders: what if the children he’s making toys for don’t exist? Well, it’s not like he’s ever seen them…
About the book
Join Steve on a Christmas Eve adventure as he sneaks on board Santa’s sleigh, befriends a little girl who’s found herself on the naughty list and gets himself into a whole load of festive trouble.
Thanks to Kelly at Love Books Tours for the opportunity to take part in the tour and for sending me a review copy of the book. The book is published by Buster Books and available now in paperback and ebook formats. Buying Link: Steve The Christmas Elf
About the Author and Illustrator
The elves themselves represent a great range of diversity and I think that’s really important for small children to see. There’s a great message in the book about the importance of kindness and sharing which is a valuable, and sometimes difficult, lesson for young children to learn.
Well, I don’t know about small children but all the grown-ups in my house loved this book! Steve the Elf has a rather important question on his mind. What if children aren’t real? After all, he’s never seen any! So he sneaks onto Santa’s sleigh and has quite an adventure on Christmas Eve.
Steve the Christmas Elf is a really lovely story and I’m sure it will bring smiles to many faces, young and old, this Christmas.
I couldn’t resist the opportunity to take part in this blogtour even though I don’t have small children anymore. You see, I have my very own Steve the Christmas Elf at home. Yes really! A few years ago, my friend Kelly (otherwise known as Ms Love Books Tours) gave me these lovely Christmas tree decorations.
Witty, handsome, charming, strong; Billy knows all these words, and more. He lives in Reading, England with his wife and son and sometimes writes children’s books.
A humorous and heart-warming story about a little elf who stops believing in the magic of Christmas and a little girl called May, who help each other find their way.
My thoughts
The book is full of colourful and appealing illustrations with lots of little details for children to spot – keep an eye out for the wee mouse! It’s told in rhyme which is always fun as children can try to guess what comes next. And once they’ve had the story read to them a few times – as they surely will want to – they will have fun joining in with the story themselves.
