Two years after the Calhoun family bought New Orleans's then-44-year-old Pelican Publishing House in 1970, Dr. Milburn Calhoun, the publisher, was inspired by the idea for a book while listening to a Cajun adaptation of Clement Moore's Christmas classic on a local radio station. Although the Calhouns had continued Pelican's focus on general interest books for adult readers, Cajun Night Before Christmas by the pseudonymous "Trosclair" would become the first children's title for the house, which was renamed Pelican Publishing Company.
As it turned out, the now-retired physician recalls, the recitation "was an ad for an automobile company and had won a CLIO award. I obtained rights, but it took a while to find the right illustrator." James Rice, a professor of art at a local college, showed up unexpectedly one day with a portfolio, and when Calhoun asked if he could draw alligators—which pull Santa's sleigh in Trosclair's version—the native Texan returned a week later with ample proof that he could.
After working with a Cajun dialect specialist, Rice produced the book Calhoun had envisioned, and it was published in fall 1973. Despite little initial interest from booksellers, word-of-mouth from customers resulted in two printings selling out before Christmas, and 30 years later, Pelican has sold half a million copies of the book in total. That success, moreover, prompted Pelican to begin developing a children's list that now accounts for 25% of the company's sales from a 1,400-title backlist and annual 70-title frontlist.
Another initially unanticipated result is a 16-title series illustrated by Rice, that most recently includes Nurse's Night Before Christmas by David Davis and Country Music Night Before Christmas by Thomas Turner, both of which were published this fall. Additions come from submissions deemed appropriate for the series or from ideas generated by the publisher and assigned for development.
According to publicist Stephanie Williams, four series authors will be participating in the 30th anniversary of Cajun Night Before Christmas with "mini-tours" for their books. The celebration's centerpiece is Rice's November and early December tour across the South for 37 events, 11 of which will be Wal-Mart signings in Louisiana and Mississippi.
