The Night Before Christmas

Clement Clarke Moore, Pop up by Robert Sabuda
Award winner Robert Sabuda brings Clement Clarke Moore’s classic tale of The Night Before Christmas to life in this festive pop-up edition, sure to become a perennial family favourite
As the mother of a young family I enjoy passing on old family traditions and creating new traditions for my own family. One tradition I am keen to foster is the enjoyment of festive books in the lead up to Christmas. More specifically I intend to bring together a selection of Christmas book for us to enjoy together as a family. Packing them away with the Christmas decoration in the new year and bringing them down from the loft each December.
I’ve decided to start my collection with a timeless classic, The Night Before Christmas. Moore’s gorgeous descriptive prose evokes strong childhood memories of lying wide awake in bed, butterflies in my stomach, straining my ears for the sound of, sleigh bells, the clip clop of hooves or even a deep chuckling ‘HO HO HO!’, the anticipation of possibly meeting Santa, was almost as exciting as the promise of presents. n fact The Night Before Christmas is probably the cause of these Christmas fantasies!
Reading it again, to my children, I am able to appreciate the skilled poetry. It is a beautiful sounding poem that you cannot fail to enjoy reading aloud. The description transports you completely as the story unfolds in your mind “And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.” But also an enormous sense of fun and a smidge of cheekiness. The idea of Father Christmas winking to acknowledge the narrators presence before going about his work and the description of the man himself “bowl full of jelly” will appeal to any child’s naughty streak.
This Particular edition is accompanied by the awe inspiring creations of Robert Sabuda. As the owner of another Sabuda creation, Alice in Wonderland (an intricate, marvel using Lewis Carroll’s text and the original illustrations – I highly recommend it), I jumped at the opportunity to own some more of this artist’s work. This level of paper engineering is an art form.
The 3D creations are indeed mesmerising, but I felt that overall the illustrations lacked something. With Alice in Wonderland I feel as though I am discovering something new with each viewing. In comparison, The Night Before Christmas appears deceptively simple. Perhaps this has more to do with Sabuda’s clever use of the original Alice in Wonderland artwork. The use of simple shapes and a limited colour pallet in The Night Before Christmas certainly focuses the spotlight on to the cleverness of the engineering.
Verdict: This cleverly constructed edition of a festive classic is a worthy addition to my Christmas collection. I would also thoroughly recommend you check Sabuda’s other work
Reviewed by Caroline