The Mice Before Christmas

Love, love, LOVE this! An offshoot of "'Twas the Night Before Christmas" as told from the perspective of the mice, who, after their night of revelry, were definitely too tired to be stirring!

The illustrations are colorful, vivid, and so very cute. Readers of all ages will pore over them at length to appreciate all the adorable details. The text reads beautifully, nice and smooth with a meter reminiscent of Moore's poem. It will be such fun to read the original, then read this after and let the students compare the two. This will be a very welcome addition to our selection of holiday books!

Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review!

Unauthorised prequels are never supposed to turn out this well. In looking at the fact that "it was the night before Christmas, and all through the house not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse" this gorgeous and quite joyous book shows why the mice weren't stirring. We find it's because they had a humdinger of a party, with copious cheese, a seven-person band for a dance, and so much excitement amongst the young that nobody was fit for even a twitch at the time the poem we know of old was set.

Perhaps because it's such a delightful seasonal event for the mice there is not that much in the way of drama here, and we have to wait for Santa Mouse to be the bearer of bad news before a plot as such is allowed to (briefly) kick in. But the look of the piece, the details in the visuals, and the quality of the verse, make this a book to crack open with much pleasure for many a Yuletide to come. Some books come out that you just know will gain a deluxe, family heirloom-quality binding some years down the line, and this has many of the hallmarks of needing that – and deserving it. Four and a half stars.