- Illustrated Chapter Books
- Ages 9–12
- Comedy
The Completely Chaotic Christmas of Lottie Brooks
Book 5 of 8 in Lottie BrooksView the full series
Secret Santa, a nose-biting baby, a nativity play and hamsters at war with the Elf on the Shelf. Book five of the diary is a warm, cosy, laugh-out-loud Christmas special of full-scale family chaos.
- Best for9–12
- FormatIllustrated
The vibe
What it’s like.
Style
- Comedic
- Conversational
- Epistolary
Tone
- Funny
- Irreverent
- Warm
- Heartwarming
- Cosy
Themes
Experience meters
What’s it about?
The story.
Lottie Brooks loves Christmas, but this year the festive season is even more chaotic than usual. The whole extended Brooks family is descending for the holidays (plus a few surprise visitors), there's a school Secret Santa to survive, and the family hamsters simply will not stop attacking Gavin, the Elf on the Shelf. Between a disastrous garden-centre Santa photo where baby Bella bites the poor man's nose, the annual mortification of the school nativity, and the horror of being caught in a novelty turkey hat, Lottie has her hands full, all while quietly navigating her sweet first romance with Daniel. Told in Katie Kirby's diary of doodles, dynamic fonts, text threads, thoughts of the day and endless lists, this Christmas instalment of the bestselling Lottie Brooks series is a cosy, riotously funny celebration of the small catastrophes that seem to find Lottie wherever she goes. A perfect festive read for fans of Dork Diaries and Diary of a Wimpy Kid.
Fit check
Right for your child?
Where it lands by age
A 9-12 independent read and a natural Christmas gift. The cosy festive setting makes it one of the gentler, warmest books in the series, and the short illustrated diary entries keep it highly accessible for reluctant readers.
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- Best fit · 9–12
- Read aloud · 9–12
- Independent · 9–12
Prose load
Light
Visual support
High
Reluctant-reader friendly
Very
Read-aloud quality
Workable
Works well for
- Reading together
- Gift-buying
- Reluctant readers
Nothing in the book is likely to concern most parents. Safe to recommend without preview.
Bedtime suitability
3 / 5 · Workable
Sensitive-child
4 / 5 · Good fit
Graphic intensity
1 / 5 · None
Best for
- Funny diary
- Christmas reads
- Reluctant readers
- Tween girls
- Cosy comedy
Avoid if
- Wants action adventure
- Wants fantasy
Particularly good for children who are…
- Religious or cultural celebration
- Reluctant reader
- Making friends
Why it lands
Why they love it.
Why kids love it
A baby biting Santa's nose, hamsters ambushing the Elf on the Shelf and a novelty turkey hat catastrophe make this the funniest festive diary going. It's stuffed with texts, lists and doodles about everything that goes gloriously wrong at Christmas.
- Cosy safety
- Friendship and belonging
- Being understood finally
- Family belonging
Why parents love it
Warm, silly and reassuringly gentle, it's the ideal Christmas gift or stocking book for a tween. The family chaos is affectionate rather than mean, reluctant readers race through the diary, and there's plenty of shared humour for the adult reading along.
- Shared humour
- Quick to read
- Bedtime appropriate
In the series
Lottie Brooks.
8 books · open the series →
About the author & illustrator
Katie Kirby.
If you liked this
Three ways out of this book.
If you liked this, try…
Lateral matches. Same shelf, different texture.
Come into this from…
Easier or preparing reads — perfect lead-ins.
Where to go next…
Escalation reads — a step up in scale, silliness, or stakes.
More like this…
Books that share themes and topics with this one.
