Rudolph Saves The Sprites is a 1998 book based on Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer: The Movie which was released the same year. This book serves as a sequel to the film and it's novelisation Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer: A Retelling of the New Animated Movie.
It was written by Amy Laroche and was illustrated by June Brigman and Roy Richardson.
Plot[]
At the North Pole on the first day of winter, all day long the reindeer and elves held parties, candy cane hunts and snowball fights, but Rudolph can't wait for The Northern Lights display in which the Sprites fill the nigh sky with dazzling sparkles. However, the Sprites don't appear so Santa and the Flyers set off to search for them. The next morning, Rudolph's father Blitzen returns home and tells his wife Mitzi that there was no sight of the Sprites and that the Flyers will look again as soon as they have had a hot breakfast and a quick nap.
At Reindeer School, Rudolph tells his doefriend Zoey that the Sprites are still missing. Just then Rudolph sniffs a glowing blossom out of the ground. Zoey notices another one and soon the two find more glowing blossoms and a path of them on the ice bridge leading to Stormella's Castle. Rudolph suggests crossing the bridge, feeling that the path will lead them to the Sprites whilst Zoey doesn't want to as she is scared of Stormella, but Rudolph reminds her that Stormella used to be wicked but is nice now and wouldn't hurt them if they cross her bridge.
Rudolph knocks on the door of the castle which is answered by Stormella who demanded to know what he and Zoey want before apologising for being grumpy (as she hadn't had her morning coffee yet). Rudolph asks her if she has seen the Sprites only for Stormella to angrily reply that why should she know where they are as she wasn't invited to the light show, before slamming the door in Rudolph's face.
Not giving up, Rudolph and Zoey follow the path of blossoms to the side of the castle and climb through a window there into the dungeon and find the Sprites in a cage with icicle bars. Sparkle tells the reindeer that if they hadn't found them, they would have gone out forever. Zoey wonders how she and Rudolph will free the Sprites since they don't have a key to which Rudolph uses his nose's light to melt the bars. Just then, they are caught by Stormella's butler Ridley who demands to know what they're doing.
Ridley says that the Sprites are here to put on a private show for Stormella then he would let them go. Rudolph tells Ridley that he had no right to lock up the Sprites before melting the last bar and freeing the Sprites. Ridley starts to cry about everything being ruined.
Stormella arrives wanting to know what's going on to which Ridley tells her that he had a wonderful surprise for her: the Sprites were going to put on their Northern Lights show just for her and says that he dragged them to the castle in a magic sack, but their lights somehow melted the ground then flowers grew then Rudolph and Zoey followed the blossoms and wrecked the surprise. Ridley says that he wanted Stormella to see the Northern Lights show before anyone else since she is never invited to Santa's Winter Celebrations. Stormella gently replies that the reason she is never been invited is because she hasn't been very nice in the past.
Rudolph tells Stormella that she's nice now and is sure Santa wouldn't mind if she came to the show. That night, Stormella is the guest of honour at the Northern Lights show where at the end, the Sprites spell out a special message: THANKS RUDOLPH.
Mistakes[]
- Like in Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer: A Retelling of the New Animated Movie, Rudolph's antlers are shorter than they are in the film and instead resemble the antlers of his Rankin/Bass counterpart when he was a yearling.
- The Flyers are in different positions: Blitzen and Prancer are in front, behind them are Dasher and Donner then Comet and Cupid and at the back are Dancer and Vixen. They also lack their Medals of Valor.
- Mitzi, Santa and Zoey's eyes are the wrong colour: Mitzi's eyes are brown instead of blue as they are in the film whilst Santa and Zoey's eyes are blue instead of brown.
- In the film, Ridley's jacket was red whilst in this book, it is blue and white. This is either a mistake or perhaps Ridley has more than one jacket.
- At the end of the book, Zoey has spots on her fur, which she had in Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer: A Retelling of the New Animated Movie but didn't have throughout this book.
- The sprites are miscolored, both their skin tones and coat colors are different from the films depiction.
Trivia[]
- This book takes place after the events of the film as Zoey is referred to as Rudolph's doefriend (reindeer name for girlfriend) and Rudolph says that Stormella "used" to be wicked but is nice now.