'Twas the Night Before Christmas

September 14, 2015
Fans of Kirk’s Library Mouse series will welcome his fresh take on this poem, since it’s set—as readers will gradually notice—at a human house that’s also home to Sam the mouse and his family. Kirk gives Moore’s verse some tactical tweaks: “Not a creature was stirring, except for a mouse,” he writes as Sam’s father, perched atop a Christmas tree ornament, spies a lumberjack-like Santa filling stockings. Kirk’s author’s note explains that he made additional minor edits, including omitting Santa’s pipe smoking, to update the text and “make it more of a mouse’s tale.” Kids can spot clues to Sam’s identity, including his personalized stocking (stuffed with a diary) and a gift tag attached to his familiar acorn-top cap. Kirk’s digitally colored ink drawings are characteristically bold and charming in a lovely addition to the library of “Night Before” adaptations. Ages 4–8.

September 1, 2015
This interpretation of the classic Christmas story includes a few twists, such as a mouse family in the main roles, a human Santa dressed as a lumberjack, and some minor updates to the text. Kirk is well-known for his Library Mouse series, and here he uses that expertise to create a believable mouse character and a cozy mouse house decorated for Christmas. Father Mouse wears a red nightshirt and cap, and he narrates the story just as a human father would. Santa wears a red cap with earflaps, a red buffalo plaid jacket, and tall brown boots. The text states that he was dressed "like a woodsman" rather than "all in fur." The verse with Santa smoking his pipe is eliminated in this version, and a few lines of the traditional text are updated here and there, with "yummy treats" instead of sugarplums and no mention of "laying his finger aside of his nose." An author's note details the reasons for the textual changes and also explains that the mouse narrator is the father of Sam, the main character in the Library Mouse series. Clues to this relationship can be found in the illustrations, such as Sam's stocking hanging by the fireplace in the mouse house. The illustrations are attractively composed, with textural highlights and speckles of snow in dark blue skies. Some will miss seeing Santa in a traditional red suit (fur or not), but Library Mouse fans will enjoy this peripheral extension of the series. (Picture book. 3-6)

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October 1, 2015

PreS-Gr 2-In an afterword, Kirk explains that his adaptation of the beloved poem was motivated by a desire to make it more relevant to modern children. Thus sugar plums become "yummy treats," brains are not settled (too confusing), Santa is not dressed in fur, and the pipe and smoke are eliminated for health reasons. As in Kirk's "Library Mouse" books (Abrams), the stars of this adaptation are mice; in fact, careful observation will reveal that Papa Mouse is related to the mouse protagonist of the adapter's other books. The illustrations are large and brightly colored. Santa is depicted as a lumberjack. VERDICT Purists might find the changes off putting, but fans of Kirk and the "Library Mouse" series will enjoy this charming take on the classic poem.-Anne Connor, Los Angeles Public Library

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