'Twas the Fright Before Christmas

by Judy Sierra, Will Hillenbrand (Illustrator)

On the night before Christmas at the old haunted house, not a creature is stirring, until . . . "Aroo-roo!" Someone steps on the werewolf and wakes him, but who ? He's blaming the manticore, who's blaming the cat, who's blaming the zombie, who points to the bat. Help! Luckily, dear Santa Mouse knows the perfect solution to calming and quieting all this Christmas confusion.
Judy Sierra and Will Hillenbrand, the ingeniously wicked team behind The House That Drac Built , have turned a holiday classic into howling, rollicking fun!

Genres: Christmas, Picture Books, Holiday, Childrens, Monsters, Fiction, Halloween

32 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2002

Reviews

[Danica Midlil · Rating 1 out of 5]

Starts out very nicely along the lines of Clement C. Moore's famous poem and then totally falls off the rails. The book completely abandons the poem's structure and topic! Instead we follow a chain of events where monster after monster causes some kind of problem for the next in line till it's all traced back to one small mouse who makes up for it with a bedtime story. Strange and it could have been such a great book!

[Roberta · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was another one of Margaret's choices for the children in the hospital where her husband Drake worked (from Elin Hilderbrand's "Winter Solstice"). I can understand why this funny, ghoulish take on "A Visit from St. Nicholas" was the children's favorite. You really have to study Will Hillenbrand's illustrations to get the full effect of the story. Dragon, manticore (I had to look that one up), fiend, bat, werewolf, zombie, cat, mummy, and mouse all live companionably together in a haunted house until mouse accidentally tickles dragon's nose and mayhem ensues.

[Kendra · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the illustrations in this book on how they mixed both Christmas with Halloween on every page. This book was a lot of fun and my kids loved some of the repetitive words through out the book. I felt like it could have had a little more of a story-line but it was okay. My kids enjoyed the book and wanted to read it again. I recommend checking it out.

[Clwseattle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought The Fright Before Christmas was hysterical and my 5yr old grand cackled right be side me! Judy Sierra is becoming one of my favorite children's author to gift to my grands.

[Kelly · Rating 2 out of 5]

The potential is there for this to be a cute book. But it just fell flat.

[Samantha · Rating 1 out of 5]

What in the world did I just read?? The beginning was good! I was looking forward to reading through it all. Then I have no idea where the story went. I thought it'd be like the classic Twas The Night Before Christmas story, but Halloween style. Boy was I wrong!!! This book misses the mark by a mile. What possessed Ms. Sierra to write the book with the title and beginning sentence, and then not deliver in the same fashion? Its mismatched and if there were two separate parts handling each bit, that'd be better. One retelling the classic story and another that is more focused on the domino effect events happening. Together it is just one big MESS!!!

[Dolly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a fun tale about monsters at Christmas. The narrative is loosely based on Clement C. Moore's classic poem, A Visit From St. Nicholas. The narrative is cumulative and humorous and the colorful illustrations complement the story nicely. I liked that there's a reference to The House That Drac Built, too. We enjoyed reading this story together.

[Arionne Mccray]

I actually like this story. When I read it I was so interested in the book. Who woke everyone up? Who caused everything? There were so many questions popping up in my mind. I like the rhyming. I like the animals. Everything was so nice. I was so into the book I forgot it was Christmas.

[Marcie · Rating 4 out of 5]

#144 I seem to love everything Judy Sierra does and kids love this one as a read aloud

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

It started out like a night before christmas but then turned into something else that wasn't very interesting

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

A tiny mouse sets off a chain of events in a haunted house the night before christmas. Sweet illustrations.

themes: Christmas, monsters

[Tina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Henry and I read this on December 4th. Nice take on the night before Christmas.

[Rida · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked it :)