THE GINGERBREAD YETI

Gemeinhart, author of The Gingerbread Monster (2025), returns with another creepy baking-disaster story.

‘Tis the night before Christmas, and North Pole elf Ella knows that her fellow elves are ravenous, so she steps up the pace with her baking. Unfortunately, she doesn’t see a “a tuft of white fur blow into the batter.” That piece of fur, combined with spice and “the magic of Santa,” creates “a dough far more naughty than nice.” The batter is poured into a gingerbread man–shaped mold and begins baking…only to become an “abominable doughman” who busts out of the oven and shouts, “Flee, Fly, Dough, Crumb! / Yeti or not, here I come!” The yeti launches a campaign of terror, so everyone runs: “The elvish stampede with Ella in the rear / stumbled into the stables and nine tiny reindeer.” (That’s not the book’s only rhythmically challenged rhyme.) Now the yeti is after the reindeer, too! Who’s going to save the reindeer and elves (and Christmas)? (Hint: He’s jolly.) This book has the same resolution and message—even bad guys have feelings—as its predecessor. For his classic-TV-animation-style art, Cuellar takes the same enjoyably anarchic approach to his palette that Ella takes to her baking. A concluding recipe for gingerbread yeti cookies sweetens the deal. Ella’s pale-skinned; the other elves vary in complexion.

Perfect for kids who feel that Christmas books are insufficiently scary.