by Moe Zilla

Created on: March 02, 2010

Is it a sequel to "Goodnight, Moon"? Margaret Wise Brown also wrote a Christmas Book, and it begins late at night in a children's nursery. "Night of all nights it was Christmas," she writes, and two children are so excited they can't sleep. So they decide to slip downstairs and make a wish by touching their Christmas tree…

Like "Good Night, Moon," a lot of the story is simply a list, but since it's Christmas Eve, there's many special things to see. Snow falls softly and quietly. There's green pine boughs on the stairs, and red holly berries in their hall. There's the smell of wood smoke and Christmas wrapping and the family's Christmas tree downstairs. "Beyond the windowpane, white flakes in the blue night, the snow fell down."

While everyone sleeps, the children creep out of that large, cold playroom - and Brown adds tension to their secret trip. She writes that the children travel "quietly, almost without breathing…past the door where Mother and Father were sleeping." At the top stair, there's a creak - and the children stand "terribly still." Their hearts thump, but there's no other sound. And out the window, it even looks like Christmas…

It's a simple descriptive text, but it seems mysterious and magical because of the illustrations by Nancy Edwards Calder. Since it's night, there's a shadowy light over most of the pictures, highlighting everything with a snowy glow. A few things shine with a special light - like bright snowflakes in the moonlight, or candles in the hall. But the children's faces are lit by the fire when they finally arrive downstairs, and their Christmas tree is filled with colorful ornaments and bright tinsel.

When they reach the tree, Brown writes "It was as though a magic had come true." They're too excited to speak or move. And then they hear voices singing in the night.

"Silent Night, Holy Night…"

Dark figures carry a lantern outside. Their voices fall with the snow. There's a quietness when their song stops. "The Christmas Carolers. They were the Christmas Carolers…" Brown writes. (And then she explains that they're "…grown-up people who went from house to house singing Christmas songs on Christmas Eve.")  

The children run upstairs, their hearts pounding. And then Brown condenses a Christmas carol to bring her story to a gentle conclusion. In a happy coincidence, the excited children are given a sweet message by the Christmas carolers.

God rest you merry gentlemen
Let nothing you dismay
Oh tidings of comfort and joy.

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