Little Critter's The Night Before Christmas

Little Critter

by Mercer Mayer

Little Critter stars in this merry retelling of Clement C. Moore’s classic holiday poem, complete with a CD for kids to enjoy with the book. Mercer Mayer’s warm and witty illustrations add a humorous touch to this magical night, when Little Critter gazes in wonder at jolly Santa Claus, his old-fashioned sleigh, eight prancing reindeer, and a bundle of colorful toys. 

Genres: Christmas, Picture Books, Childrens, Holiday, Fiction, Poetry

20 pages, Hardcover

First published December 31, 1992

About the author

Mercer Mayer is an American children's author and illustrator. He has published over 300 books, using a wide range of illustrative styles. Mayer is best known for his Little Critter and Little Monster series of books.

Reviews

[Austin Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reading this on Christmas Eve, of course.

[Kathy Gold · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a delightful book that comes with a CD.
The size of the hard cover is 10 x 8 1/2 with CD inside the front cover.
Beautiful pages of illustrations with Little Critter and his furdog🐾in bed cozy with a blanket of gorgeous snow outside under a full moon with a cute snow man outside his window with Christmas lights on the fence. Every page is done better than the next. Each smile face is easily seen, the pup, Santa, the stockings hung on the fireplace. The colors are fantastic, pages a great size.
This will be enjoyed for decades.

The adorable story is written as it says like-the Night Before Christmas🎄 It is truly a precious take on the story. Not to be missed.
My family searches out books of little critter that we might miss😮 This was one. We have other Christmas books on cassette😅😂 that's how long we have collected these for the kid's. The oldest is in her 40s🙄 Every one adores these stories, because they are truly special, well written, true to life, funny, so well illustrated that you can't stop looking at the pages, the kids, Grand even us in our Sr years enjoy reading them and sharing with all the kid's. Reminding them of then nights shared reading the 1st book's and looking for them in the book stores.

[Minna · Rating 3 out of 5]

OK. Kids liked the illustrations. I was hoping for a more humorous take on the traditional story, more in keeping with the other Little Critter books, but this is literally word-for-word the original. I personally was disappointed but the kids liked it fine, as evidenced by the fact that I have been asked to read it multiple times in the last two weeks.

[Cindy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Copyright 1992. My kids always enjoyed a Little Critter book. This one takes the poem By Clement Moore & uses Mercer Mayer's illustrations. Not very imaginative illustrations in fact. An ok book for children.

[Carmen Harris · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was okay. I usually love little critters, but this is just a version of the night before Christmas, which is fine, but repetitive. It doesn't have anything new to do. It would be good to read for Christmas, but it's not a must-read.

[Merisa Ferrell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another thrift store find.

Exactly like the T'was the Night Before Christmas story but with Little Critter and his family. Great picture book for small children.

[Alisia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Day 14 Book Advent Calendar 2018

[Suzanne Lorraine Kunz Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love how this modernized pictures brought this old story poem super enjoyable to todays generation.

[Jordan Sheppard · Rating 5 out of 5]

I felt like a child again.

[Gladimore · Rating 1 out of 5]

It's the night before christmas almost exactly but with critter illustrations. It was lazy to use already made material.

[AJ · Rating 5 out of 5]

The traditional 'Twas the Night Before Christmas told by Little Critter, which I loved. Super cute with some updated words.

[Meredith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Little One asked for this. I wish it hadn't been just the generic "Twas the Night Before Christmas," but the illustrations are nice.

[Kelly Teen Librarian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Adorbs.

[Kate Carter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love the lil’ critter and this version of The Night Before Christmas.

[Tweller83 · Rating 5 out of 5]

The traditional 'Twas the Night Before Christmas told by Little Critter, which I loved. Super cute with some updated words.

[Lauri Meyers · Rating 4 out of 5]

Text of ‘Twas the night before Christmas but with little critter illustration.

[Kristen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an ok book. It's just the regular The Night Before Christmas story with Little Critter illustrations. I enjoy the story so I gave this 3 stars. I feel that 2 stars is saved for books I didn't like and 1 star for books I hated or didn't finish. Thus this book receives 3 stars. It was just ok. I wish they had been more creative in using the Little Critter family and story. We read "Olaf's night before Christmas" and it was changed around nicely for Olaf's world, yet still followed the rhyme and story of The Night Before Christmas, which may be why I was a little more disappointed in this one. Hubby loved the Little Critter books as a kid, so that's the main reason I picked this up at the library. Not one I will need to have on my own bookshelf.

[Angie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Synopsis: "In a sprightly retelling of the holiday classic, Little Critter dreams of dancing sugarplums while patiently waiting for Santa and his reindeer to arrive."

My Review: As I have said before, Little Critter has a special place in our hearts and our shelves but we had never read this one before. I love how the words and rhyme were slightly altered with more modern words young readers will recognize and to also fit the characters of the story, but it wasn't so drastic as to turn off the lovers of the classic story. It is a fun one to read to the kids during this holiday season.

[Rosa Cline · Rating 3 out of 5]

Little Critter has always been a favorite of mine to read as a young child, and then now as a grown up reading to my children and now my granddaughter. Mostly because of the sweet illustrations. In this book it is word for word of the classic old story "The Night Before Christmas" so the story itself it's a "Little Critter" story but the illustrations add a sweetness to it you haven't seen before.

[Feramaus · Rating 5 out of 5]

i love

[Dave Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great retelling of Clement Moore's poem. A fun Christmas story with humor and great illustrations. Reminds me of the magic and wonder of the Christmas spirit with a taste of quick wit. Also can come with a CD for young readers to enjoy with the book. Check it out!

[Kelsi Holman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even though it doesn’t follow the exact original poem by Moore, it is a great rendition of the story. Completely relevant to children, and really fun to read. Little Critter books are such a delight.

[Tiffany · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was kind of disappointing because I was hoping it would be more Mercer Mayer-y and less Clement Clarke Moore-y, but as usual the illustrations were very cute. I am glad this is part of the collection of Christmas books I bought for my son this year.

[Pam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, I usually love Little Critter books, but the change in calling St. Nick Santa Claus really threw me off! 12/10/13

Hmmm, I think I was in a better mood when we read this this year, 12/13/14. I would've given it 4 stars...but the slightly different terms in the story were un-fun. 12/13/14

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is fun to read this one around Christmastime. It bugs me a little to have the words changed from the original poem "Twas the night before Christmas", but not too much.

[Phannie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Always love Little Critter

[Marcie · Rating 3 out of 5]

#69 I don't like this one because of updated language and that it doesn’t even give credit to Moore.

[Kathy Eiferle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Can't go wrong with Mercer Mayer AND the traditional Night Before Christmas

[Jaime · Rating 4 out of 5]

We love all little critter books!

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such a cute adaption my daughters loved it!