Beautiful "Night Before Christmas" book?

[JoyNChrist]

I'd like to get a really pretty "Night Before Christmas" book to read every year...you know, start a family tradition. I'd like something with great illustrations. Anybody have any recommendations?

TIA!

ETA - It's always been a tradition in my family to read "A Cajun Night Before Christmas", so we have a copy of that too, but I'd also like the traditional version. :-)

[ekbecker1]

This doesn't exactly answer your question, but I had to reply because I just bought this book today at Target. They have a mini-board book version that is $1. I love your idea of a nice copy for reading as a family tradition. But if you also want a more durable copy that you can leave laying around . . . Ours is on the coffee table in the living room and my 4YO asked me to read it 6 times and then spent many minutes paging through it by himself looking at the pictures.

[JoyNChrist]

Aw, thanks. I'm headed to Target tomorrow - I'll have to pick one up. Was it in the $1 section or the book section?

[Bean606]

There is a really beautiful pop up version by Robert Sabuda. He is a master at pop-ups. We have purchased a number of his books as gifts, and have a few for our DS, but haven't opened them yet because he is too young not to destroy them.

[andie16]

We have one illustrated by Jan Brett (The Mitten) which is quite nice. I haven't seen the Robert Sabuda Night Before Christmas, but we do have two other winter/holiday pop-up books by him which really are amazing (one is The Christmas Alphabet and the other one is more just about winter).

I like the idea of having a sturdier one lying around for my ds to look at. The nice one is in dd's room since she can be trusted around books other than board books.

Good luck.

[katydid1971]

Another vote for the Jan Brett version.

[MarisaSF]

We have the Sabuda Night before Christmas one. It is really beautiful. DD is mesmerized by it. :)

[kcimato]

This is not beautifully illustrated but it is a new twist on Night before Christmas, called The Soldiers Night Before Xmas. If you have a loved one who has spent a Christmas deployed in Iraq or Afghanistan it is a must have.

[sand82552]

I have this one from Chronicle Books, I love it.


http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?z=y&EAN=9780811817127&itm=2

[Masik]

We've chosen it with Gennadiy Spirin illustrations for this year:
http://www.amazon.com/Night-Before-Christmas-Clement-Clarke/dp/0761452982/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196146816&sr=8-2

http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k197/Masik_Kolbasik/ourfamily-1.jpg

[ekbecker1]

It was in the book section, but you might check the $1 section too in case they have it in different places in different Targets. Also, I was reading it (again) last night and noticed that on the back it says it's adapted from the original. I didn't notice that any parts were missing or changed, but it might not be the exact wording of the original. Either way, it's definitely been worth the dollar it cost!

[Evasmom]

The one at Target is illustrated by Mary Engelebreit. You can purchase it alone or as a gift set, which includes the book, an audio CD of the book (Jim Dale is the narrator - he does all of the Harry Potter audio CDs), and an ornament. This book has beautiful illustrations as well. My 3 year old dtr asks us to read this book year round and loves to find all the the things 'hidden' in the pictures (there's a little mouse on almost every page - you just have to look for it).

http://www.target.com/Night-Before-Christmas-Gift-Box/dp/0061364959/sr=1-2/qid=1196187870/ref=sr_1_2/601-6243663-8104946?ie=UTF8&index=books&rh=k%3AThe%20Night%20Before%20Christmas%20mary%20e ngelbreit&page=1