cover image The Night Before Christmas

The Night Before Christmas

Clement Clarke Moore. Scholastic, $5.95 (0pp) ISBN 978-0-590-33805-9

The pictures, of course, turn Moore's ""A Visit from St. Nicholas'' into Marshall's manic visions of the blithe Victorian fantasy. In addition to the boldly colored illustrations, there are additional lines uttered by Papa in his cap and the household petsa bulldog, cat and chickenas they gaze out the window at Santa and his reindeer: ``Holy smoke!'' ``Never in all my born days!'' Another chicken, three more bulldogs and extra cats share sleeping quarters with countless children in bunk beds and with Mama whose night gear includes not only a 'kerchief but a helmet, goggles and an umbrella. In short, the familiar verses are here a production of the humorist's satiric eye and children will love it. (All ages)