Finding My Elf

Gr 9 Up–Cam left his small town for theater school at NYU, sure he was leaving for bigger and better things—new friends, new loves, and, of course, smashing success on the stage. He returns home for winter break with none of these things, and he is doing so poorly in his theater classes that he’s in danger of losing his scholarship. A job as an elf to a mall Santa gives him the chance to act a little and an excuse to avoid telling his dad about his life in New York. It also puts him in competition with his fellow elves for a cash prize, if he can earn the popular vote in a social media contest run by his Scroogelike supervisor. His main competition is the cute and charming Marco, whose genuinely kind and upbeat personality eventually chips away at Cam’s too-cool-for-school persona, clearing a path for a romance. Cam undergoes a lot of maturing and growth over the course of his 12 days of elf-mas, which makes resolutions in his relationship with his ex-boyfriend, his father, and Marco well-earned and satisfying. It also means Cam starts in a place that readers might have trouble sympathizing with; those who stick with him will be rewarded.