cover image Rocky Mountain Night Before Christmas

Rocky Mountain Night Before Christmas

Joe Gribnau, , illus. by Salima Alikhan. . Pelican, $15.95 (32pp) ISBN 978-1-58980-317-6

Flying cows? That's just one of the liberties the tenderfoot author takes in shifting the Moore chestnut to a cowboy-centric setting. But a focus on the hardscrabble life of a rancher leaves little room for child-friendly detail or holiday cheer in this re-imagining of the poem, which references “chaw,” and a “nip” to ease a bad hip. During the Christmas Eve encounter, an un-jolly Santa is roughed up, lassoed and nearly dragged by a horse before the rancher vaguely recognizes the red suit. No wonder the rancher concludes, “And somehow I knew [Santa] wouldn't be back”—readers might not be, either. All ages. (Oct.)