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The Night Before Christmas
The Night Before Christmas
Author: Clement C. Moore, Mary Engelbreit (Illustrator)
Readers young and old are invited into the enchanting world of Mary Engelbreit in this sparkling edition of Clement C. Moore's classic poem. It is the night before Christmas, in a house so cozy and colorful, so filled with expectation, so dusted with Christmas magic that only this beloved illustrator could have created it. Shhh. A mou...  more »
ISBN-13: 9780060081607
ISBN-10: 0060081600
Publication Date: 10/1/2002
Pages: 32
Reading Level: Ages 4-8
Rating:
  • Currently 4.4/5 Stars.
 12

4.4 stars, based on 12 ratings
Publisher: HarperCollins
Book Type: Hardcover
Other Versions: Paperback, Audio Cassette, Audio CD
Members Wishing: 0
Reviews: Member | Amazon | Write a Review

Top Member Book Reviews

reviewed The Night Before Christmas on + 121 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
The classic poem. Every child should have read to him.
bast3 avatar reviewed The Night Before Christmas on + 44 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
It's the classic Christmas story with pictures by Gyo Fujikawa. Cute!
annalovesbooks avatar reviewed The Night Before Christmas on
Helpful Score: 1
I'm now on a fourth edition of this poem and, to keep them straight, the ISBN of each edition is at the start of its review. The first, ISBN 0785313648 'Twas the Night Before Christmas (Candy Cane Books) (3 stars), began with a sentence I'm going to copy and paste here: While there's no question that the original poem by Clement Moore is a five star piece of work, there are so many versions of this poem in print that any review has to be of the entire book, with more weight on the illustrations, the only difference between them. I suggest potential customers pay attention to which reviews apply to which book, as there's quite a difference in quality.

The classic poem, wherein the narrator hears noise on the lawn on Christmas Eve and, responding to it, sees Santa in his sleigh land on the roof, come down the chimney, etc. The narrator, the father of the family, watches Santa place gifts under the tree and, when done, hop in his sleigh and fly away.

ISBN 0307637506 - (5 stars) Illustrator Cyndy Szekeres and Golden Books measure up to the standard set by Moore. Szekeres's family is one of mice, which always makes for some fun illustrations. The "wreath" on the family's door is one leaf and one holly berry; the parents' bed is a sardine can; Santa sits on a single die to review his list and the endtable is a thread spool while a large family photo has a locket for a frame. These little touches of whimsy are fun and cute. All ages love the poem, children in particular will love the mice and their adorable adapted furnishings.

ISBN 0307119564 - (3 stars) Illustrators Greg and Tim Hildebrandt did an okay job, just nothing special. The Santa on the cover looks a little bug-eyed, which makes him seem to be leering... which, in turn, makes it an unattractive cover. The inside illustrations are on the old-fashioned side, and they complement the poem well. The detail is nice and the decorated tree is one of the best images - although the decorations on the tree change from page to page. Not bad, just not the best.

ISBN 1556702744 - (5 stars) Joyce Patti's illustrations, paired with the unique 3D shadow box pages set this edition apart. The book is small, about 5" x 5" and just over 1/2" thick, which makes it a good take along book, but the delicate-ness of the shadow boxes makes it a poor choice for a child to handle much. As each page is opened, the shadow box will pop up and display a beautiful, multi-layered image. The images are small but remarkably detailed. The trick, by the way, is to make sure you're holding the page edges down with your right thumb, or the effect is lost. A nice presentation of a classic.

- AnnaLovesBooks
Read All 27 Book Reviews of "The Night Before Christmas"

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reviewed The Night Before Christmas on + 552 more book reviews
Series: Wee Books for Wee Folks Series
Annotation
Saint Nicholas visits a sleeping household on Christmas Eve.

From the Publisher
That jolly late-night visitor and his magical, toy-filled sleigh are back in the beloved holiday classic.




Charlene in Louisiana, a school librarian, 12/28/2005
A Victorian Delight!
The pictures in this version of the classic tale establish a Victorian American setting. The scenes are truly beautiful to behold. It is delightful!
Ariadnae avatar reviewed The Night Before Christmas on + 356 more book reviews
A lovely retelling of the famous tale put in a sturdy board book for little hands to hold, lovely illustrations.
reviewed The Night Before Christmas on
Board book.
ladystyx avatar reviewed The Night Before Christmas on + 440 more book reviews
Utter classic.
reviewed The Night Before Christmas on
good book! its a classic
4alden avatar reviewed The Night Before Christmas on + 17 more book reviews
Simply illustrated book of the poem of the same name.
reviewed The Night Before Christmas on + 246 more book reviews
Illustrations by Douglas Gorsline.
Delos avatar reviewed The Night Before Christmas on
I just gave this book to a 5 year old and she loved it immediately. She actually completely ignored a glittery Fancy Nancy book in favor of looking through this one.

I'm not normally a fan of Mary Engelbreit's style, country folksy to me. I have never bought anything decorated like this, but you can tell immediately this is a richly illustrated rendition of the classic poem that will have kids reading it over and over again. There were so many details in the pictures. I could point out illustrated examples of unfamiliar words from the poem, plus the kids were making up their own side stories about all the additional details shown. As a kid, I always loved a book like this, that I could look at/read over and over again until I really "grew into" understanding it fully, and I can tell this book will be like this for her and her little brother.

The words are written large enough for little ones learning to read to follow along with their finger (and about 4 lines of the poem per page), but not with a font so large that readers with a wee bit of experience would cast it aside as being a baby book for a younger sibling. The poem does not read like a dumbed down version (if it was abridged in any way, I didn't notice).
reviewed The Night Before Christmas on
wonderfully illustrated classic tale
reviewed The Night Before Christmas on
Jan Brett's illustrations are delightful and a beautiful background to Clement Moore's classic Christmas poem. There is a lot of detail for children to observe on each page.
reviewed The Night Before Christmas on
This is illustrated by Jan Brett.
SusanofGreenGables avatar reviewed The Night Before Christmas on + 618 more book reviews
This is a beautiful Jan Brett version of this picture book. Our children have so much fun peeking at the pictures in the margins to get a hint of what's coming up next in the story!
NancyInWI avatar reviewed The Night Before Christmas on + 54 more book reviews
Wonderful whimsical artwork accompanies the traditional story
reviewed The Night Before Christmas on + 4 more book reviews
So so childrens book about the Night Before Chirsmas. There were too many animals in the pictures, like ten or twenty animals per page sitting on Santas Lap, and on the couches and chairs. It left me with an icky feeling.
reviewed The Night Before Christmas on + 19 more book reviews
This remarkable gift edition of the night before christmas features:
6 3dimensional shadow-box scenes, the complete, unabridged version of the classic Christmas poem, original artwork on every page. This is a secular book and does not mention the religious aspect of Christmas.
cmoh avatar reviewed The Night Before Christmas on + 42 more book reviews
Lovely book, the illustrations kept my daughter occupied and intrigued for a long time. And of course the story is a delight. I recommend this book for anyone that has a child interested in reading or being read to that is a little young because they will stay engaged because of the wonderful illustrations. This is a keeper for our family!
reviewed The Night Before Christmas on + 100 more book reviews
Love the classics!


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