'Twas the Night Before Christmas

by Clement C. Moore, Daniel Kirk (Illustrator)

Overview

When Father Mouse is awakened on Christmas Eve by a clatter outside his window, he catches a glimpse of the one and only Santa Claus! Father Mouse can hardly believe his eyes as he watches St. Nick come down the chimney with a pack full of toys. In this amusing twist on the classic poem by Clement C. Moore, Daniel Kirk reimagines the story from a fresh perspective—and readers of Kirk’s Library Mouse series may discover a familiar friend, too!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781613128572
Publisher:	Abrams Books for Young Readers
Publication date:	10/27/2015
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	32
File size:	48 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Daniel Kirk is the bestselling author of the Library Mouse series as well as other picture books and the Elf Realm trilogy. He travels extensively to talk about his work with schoolchildren and library groups. He lives in Glen Ridge, New Jersey.
Daniel Kirk has written and illustrated a number of popular and bestselling books for children, including Library Mouse, which Booklist praised as a “show-stopper.” He is also the author and illustrator of Library Mouse: A Friend’s Tale and the novels ElfRealm: The Low Road and Elf Realm: The High Road. He lives in Glen Ridge, New Jersey, with his family.
Clement C. Moore was a scholar and author living in New York in the late 18th and 19th centuries. His poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas” (also known as “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas”), which he wrote for his own children, was originally published anonymously in 1823 but became an enduring part of Christmas traditions.

Editorial Reviews

09/14/2015
Fans of Kirk’s Library Mouse series will welcome his fresh take on this poem, since it’s set—as readers will gradually notice—at a human house that’s also home to Sam the mouse and his family. Kirk gives Moore’s verse some tactical tweaks: “Not a creature was stirring, except for a mouse,” he writes as Sam’s father, perched atop a Christmas tree ornament, spies a lumberjack-like Santa filling stockings. Kirk’s author’s note explains that he made additional minor edits, including omitting Santa’s pipe smoking, to update the text and “make it more of a mouse’s tale.” Kids can spot clues to Sam’s identity, including his personalized stocking (stuffed with a diary) and a gift tag attached to his familiar acorn-top cap. Kirk’s digitally colored ink drawings are characteristically bold and charming in a lovely addition to the library of “Night Before” adaptations. Ages 4–8. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

10/01/2015
PreS-Gr 2—In an afterword, Kirk explains that his adaptation of the beloved poem was motivated by a desire to make it more relevant to modern children. Thus sugar plums become "yummy treats," brains are not settled (too confusing), Santa is not dressed in fur, and the pipe and smoke are eliminated for health reasons. As in Kirk's "Library Mouse" books (Abrams), the stars of this adaptation are mice; in fact, careful observation will reveal that Papa Mouse is related to the mouse protagonist of the adapter's other books. The illustrations are large and brightly colored. Santa is depicted as a lumberjack. VERDICT Purists might find the changes off putting, but fans of Kirk and the "Library Mouse" series will enjoy this charming take on the classic poem.—Anne Connor, Los Angeles Public Library

School Library Journal

2015-08-12
This interpretation of the classic Christmas story includes a few twists, such as a mouse family in the main roles, a human Santa dressed as a lumberjack, and some minor updates to the text. Kirk is well-known for his Library Mouse series, and here he uses that expertise to create a believable mouse character and a cozy mouse house decorated for Christmas. Father Mouse wears a red nightshirt and cap, and he narrates the story just as a human father would. Santa wears a red cap with earflaps, a red buffalo plaid jacket, and tall brown boots. The text states that he was dressed "like a woodsman" rather than "all in fur." The verse with Santa smoking his pipe is eliminated in this version, and a few lines of the traditional text are updated here and there, with "yummy treats" instead of sugarplums and no mention of "laying his finger aside of his nose." An author's note details the reasons for the textual changes and also explains that the mouse narrator is the father of Sam, the main character in the Library Mouse series. Clues to this relationship can be found in the illustrations, such as Sam's stocking hanging by the fireplace in the mouse house. The illustrations are attractively composed, with textural highlights and speckles of snow in dark blue skies. Some will miss seeing Santa in a traditional red suit (fur or not), but Library Mouse fans will enjoy this peripheral extension of the series. (Picture book. 3-6)

Kirkus Reviews