The Night the Lights Went Out on Christmas

The Griswoldian escalation of holiday decorating among competitive neighbors has an unexpected ripple effect in this rhyming fable inspired by a song from Paul’s holiday album, City of Silver Dreams. After years of trying to outdo each other with lights and inflatable lawn ornaments, the residents of Christmas Block create a visible-from-outer-space display that draws carloads of people “driving at their leisure./ They’d gawk and squawk and stare in shock,/ while their children had near seizures.” A blown fuse causes a global blackout, but the resulting celestial light display may prove the best decoration of all. Brundage’s increasingly flashy and jam-packed scenes match the over-the-top silliness of Paul’s song, before creating a stark contrast in later pages awash in nature’s inky blackness and astral shimmer. A free download of Paul’s tune is available. Ages 4–7. Illustrator’s agency: Shannon Associates. (Oct.)