The 12 Days of Christmas & Other Winter Holiday Picture Books for Kids – Day 7

Title: Cajun Night Before Christmas
Written by: Trosclair
Edited by: Howard Jacobs
Illustrated by: James Rice
Hardback: 48 pages
Ages: 4-8
Publisher: Pelican Publishing Company; 20 Anniversary edition (September 1992)
ISBN-10: 0882899406
ISBN-13: 978-0882899404

Everyone loves the poem The Night Before Christmas, but back in 1973, Pelican Publishing decided to move the setting to the Louisiana bayou. Throw in a Santa dressed “in musk-rat from his head to his foot” on a skiff pulled by eight alligators, and you have a delightful new twist to an old holiday classic. Cajun Night Before Christmas proved to be so successful that it has served as the model for Pelican’s ongoing “Night Before Christmas” series.

This book by Trosclair is written in Cajun dialect, and it is extremely fun to read aloud. But if the person reading aloud happens to have a very pronounced south Georgia drawl (me) and tries to make it through the colorful text and master the unique Cajun cadence without laughing—the results can be quite comical as well!

In the story, the bayou-bred narrator provides us with imaginative and humorous descriptions of what happens on Christmas Eve in the bayou when old Saint Nick comes calling. But this musk-rat wearing Santa is like no other! When he comes ‘down de chimney’, he lands on ‘dem red coal’ and ‘axclaim, ma pant got a hole.”

And after he ‘put play’ting in sock’ he ‘cas’ an eye on de chimney an’ den he done said: “Wit’ all o’ dat fire an’ dem burning hot flame, me I ain’ goin’ back by de way dat I came.” So he ‘run out de’ do’ and jumped back on his skiff. And as the narrator shares, ‘An’ I hear him shout loud as a splashin’ he go, “Merry Christmas to all til’ I saw you some mo’!”

The illustrations by James Rice fit this story perfectly. His work is fanciful and the pictures certainly bring Christmas on the Louisiana bayou to life. So, if you’re looking for a delightful read for the holiday season, this modern classic will tickle the funny bones of readers both young and old!

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Amy M. O’Quinn is a pastor’s wife and former schoolteacher-turned-homeschool mom of six. She is also a freelance writer who enjoys jotting down ideas around the fringes of family life. She specializes in non-fiction, and her work has been published or acquired by magazines including Jack and Jill, US Kids, Guideposts for Kids, Learning Through History Magazine, Highlights, GEORGIA Magazine, Homeschooling Today, International Gymnast, etc. She is also a product/curriculum/book reviewer for The Old Schoolhouse Magazine and a regular columnist for TEACH Magazine. The O’Quinns live on the family farm in rural south Georgia. You can find Amy’s blog, Ponderings >From Picket Fence Cottage, at http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/pic