The Night Before Christmas

Clement C. Moore’s classic poem is given an infusion of modern warmth in this new, spectacularly-illustrated edition. Featuring four families and one miniature Santa Claus, Long cyclically transports the reader and familiar text to display each family’s Christmas Eve preparations with illustrations that are a beautiful blend of nostalgia and modernism. The diversity of the four families picture extends beyond racial diversity to also showcase religious diversity, socio-economic diversity and— most prevalently—home and location diversity in a masterstroke that provides children around the world an opportunity to see an aspect of their own holiday celebrations as they read rather than requiring them to compare their own traditions to the traditional ideal. From a country home to a city apartment to a trailer park to the tropics, there are a host of details to delight and inspire investigation—different treats (key lime pie), decorations (a drawn paper fireplace), ornaments, creches (and a dog menorah!), tree sizes, and colors, etc.