Can you believe I am back with yet another “The Night Before Christmas” books? And even more incredible, I promise this is not the last in our countdown, for what would Christmas Eve be without a “The Night Before Christmas” book? But this year I just had too many I admired that I had to include them all. I’ve made a tag so you can see all my favorite illustrated versions of Clement C. Moore’s famous poem over all my yearly countdowns. Tonight, let’s finish the Christmas Nutshell Library collection with The Night Before Christmas by Clement C. Moore, pictures by Hilary Knight, 1963.
As always, the text of this poem is the same. The real treat is the illustrations and Hilary Knight never disappoints. He has created a one page vignette for each spread. They are detailed, black and white, and immensely satisfying to study.
I dreadfully love Knight’s Santa Claus. His characters are always cheerful, cheeky people and Santa Claus has an elvishly, delightful quality about him. There is such movement and gusto in his posture as he whooshes from the chimney, twinkles while he does his job, gives the family pets some love, and even shares a warm beverage with the mother and father.
Hilary Knight adds such fun ideas and pieces to the well-known tale. It is fun to see the parents obviously in cahoots with Santa and the children peeking in on the three sneaks. There are portraits on the walls that boast such personality of their own. Every Hilary Knight drawing makes me think he must have thousands more stories to tell with his pen.
Thanks for letting me stretch time on this tiny book set. I hope you found it worth it. Hilary Knight is always worth spending Christmas with. Also, if you have never seen his first Christmas card sent to Kay Thompson with the first inception of Eloise, please do take a look. (I have linked to Pinterest, but the Pinterest link is a dead end unfortunately and I cannot find the real image. I will update when I do!) It’ll bring your Christmas cheer up a notch or two!
Follow along our book adventure at 25 Days of Christmas Books 2014!
Three Books a Night 