'Night Before Christmas' Smack Down - Most Popular Twas the Night Before Christmas books

Whether you call it "Twas the Night Before Christmas" or "A Visit from St. Nicholas" or "The Night Before Christmas", the 1823 poem about a visit from Santa is arguably one of America's favorite Christmas reads.

Because it is so popular, there are many versions to choose from -- not to mention the parodies -- and so to help you find your first version, or just your next, we've shifted through the comments and ratings at Goodreads, LibraryThing, and Amazon to find THE MOST POPULAR versions. All of the books below earned at least 4-Stars and family approved artwork.

NOTE: I went to update the numbers this year and found that both GoodReads and Amazon have really messed up by combining reviews .AND. giving the same numbers/star ratings to different versions of this poem.  So I'm glad I did my research last year to find the most popular version.  I've reported numbers where they seemed accurate.

**all ratings from GoodReads
 



This is a beautifully illustrated book that has received 5-stars from Amazon readers. I think they love the beautiful old-fashioned artwork of Tom Browning.

Page Count: 48


sample page


bookcover of THE NIGHT BEFORE THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS by Natasha WingThe Night Before the Night Before Christmas
(Reading Railroad Books)
by Natasha Wing, Mike Lester (Illustrator)

4.11 avg rating — 161 ratings

Okay, this one isn't the classic poem, but it was awfully popular so we included it. The story is that two days before Christmas, an overworked family laments with a familiar rhyme that they had "too much to do, Our tree wasn't up yet, and Mom had the flu."

It received almost all 5-stars at Amazon.

sample page #1 from THE NIGHT BEFORE THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS by Natasha Wing

 sample page #2 from THE NIGHT BEFORE THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS by Natasha Wing

Word Count: 543
Page Count:  32
Accelerated Reading Level: 2.8 / points: 0.5
AR quiz: 64117

Lexile: AD520L 
--sample pages available 


bookcover of Can You See What I See? The Night Before Christmas by Walter Wick
Can You See What I See? The Night Before Christmas
by Walter Wick

4.18 avg rating — 122 ratings

This is a fun picture puzzle book that has received almost all 5 stars from Amazon reader-reviewers.

sample page from Can You See What I See? The Night Before Christmas  by Walter Wick
Page Count: 40
--sample pages available 


bookcover of THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS  by Jan Brett Twas the Night Before Christmas: A Visit from St. Nicholas
by Jan Brett

Love Jan Brett's intricate work and this one's a charmer. 
sample page from Jan Brett's The Night Before Christmas
Page Count:  32
--sample pages available 


bookcover of Little Golden Book's NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS The Night Before Christmas
by Little Golden Book

This is the Little Golden Book version with their usual simple but nice drawings. 4.4 stars from 16 opinions.



sample page #1 from THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS by Little Golden Book
 sample page #2 from THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS by Little Golden Book

Page Count: 24
 --sample pages available
Illustrated by Mary Engelbreit 

Mary Engelbreit's style is very popular.

Word Count: 541
Page Count: 32
Accelerated Reading Level: 4.3 / points: 0.5
AR quiz: 45419

 Lexile: AD940L 
 --sample pages available 

sample page from THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS by  Mary Engelbreit


Illustrated by Bruce Whatley 

You might know Bruce Whatley's name because of his popular of "Martha Doesn't Say Sorry" book.  I think he's done a marvelous job illustrating his version of THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS.

sample page from THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS by Bruce Whatley

Page Count: 40 pages
 --sample pages available 
 

Illustrated by Cheryl Harness

A different artistic style with this one.  

Page Count: 40
 --sample pages available




sample page #2 from THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS by Cheryl Harness
sample page #1 from THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS by Cheryl Harness


by David Davis 
illustrated by James Rice

3.67 avg rating — 21 ratings

Alas, this unusual version has experienced a drop in Star ratings from last year.  I'll keep it for one more year and if it doesn't pop back up to 4-Stars, it will be dropped.



Illustrated by Rachel Isadora

4.09 Stars from 46 GoodReaders

Love this cute version which brings a different style and perspective to the poem.

excerpt from Rachel Isadora's Night Before Christmas

Page Count: 32
--sample pages available 


bookcover of Night Before Christmas Pop-up by Robert Sabuda
4.9 stars from 81 folks at Amazon
The Night Before Christmas Pop-up
Artwork by Robert Sabuda

4.35 Stars from 60,522 GoodReaders

We've owned this book for about 7 years now. We bought it when our eldest was a preschooler and it has become sort of a family tradition to set up milk and cookies for Santa and our selves, and read it together on Christmas Eve.

We had to wait a few years before we could allow the children to play with it without close supervision, and maybe that is why they remain enthralled with it after all these years.

Page Count: 12
 --sample pages available


excerpt from Robert Sabuda's Night Before Christmas Pop-up book


compiled by Pam
updated November 2014