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.
The Night Before the Night Before Christmas
(Reading Railroad Books)
by , 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.
Word Count: 543
Page Count: 32
Accelerated Reading Level: 2.8 / points: 0.5
AR quiz: 64117
Lexile: AD520L
--sample pages available
by
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 pages available
Twas the Night Before Christmas: A Visit from St. Nicholasby
Love
Jan Brett's intricate work and this one's a charmer.
--sample pages available
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.
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 Page Count: 32
Accelerated Reading Level: 4.3 / points: 0.5
AR quiz: 45419
Lexile: AD940L
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.
Page Count: 40 pages
--sample pages available
Illustrated by Cheryl Harness
A different artistic style with this one.
Page Count: 40
--sample pages available
by
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
Love this cute version which brings a different style and perspective to the poem.
Page Count: 32
--sample pages available 
Page Count: 32
 |
| 4.9 stars from 81 folks at Amazon |
Artwork by Robert Sabuda
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.
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
compiled by Pam
updated November 2014
