A Creature Was Stirring

Forget mice. A wide-eyed boy is the kind of creature Clement C. Moore would not have imagined scurrying around while the events of his famous poem took place. Goodrich juxtaposes, in alternating stanzas, the comments of a curious, tousle-haired tyke sporting stars-and-moons pj's, with Moore's well-known words. "I don't want to butt in,/ but I'm wide awake,/ and in Santa's book/ that's a naughty mistake," says the boy, following the poem's opening lines. Yet the boy redeems himself with a good deed. Shadowy watercolor-and-colored-pencil compositions bring readers right into the anticipatory Christmas Eve mood. All ages. (Oct.)