A Creature Was Stirring: the little hero in this story is finding it awfully difficult to sleep!
/
This is the story of an over-excited little boy on Christmas Eve. He’s well versed in Christmas legend and knows that not a creature should be stirring – not even a mouse.
But our hero can’t sleep! It’s a major dilemma.
With Clement C Moore’s classic poem on one side of each page and the rhyming story of our little boy on the other side, each page is full of fun.
Coming from a family of insomniacs, I adore his face on the page opposite the ‘visions of sugar plums’ page and the rhyme:
How can they sleep?
I sure wish I could.
He’ll write in that book;
He’ll write I’m no good!
One way to read the book would be to read the Moore poem all the way through then go back and read the little boy’s all the way through – then finally read them in tandem. Even a baby will enjoy the cadence of the rhymes (though they might not make it till the end), and a preteen will get a giggle out of the little boy’s solid belief in Santa’s naughty list.
The illustrations add to the humour of the book and I love the lighthearted approach to Christmas, the gentle reminder to parents that we best watch how we manipulate children at Christmas, and the sheer joy of sharing a Christmas legend.
A CREATURE WAS STIRRING
by Clement C Moore, adapted and illustrated by Carter Goodrich - Simon & Schuster Children's, 2006
ages baby to pre-teen / Christmas
P.S. You might know Carter Goodrich from his work on films including Finding Nemo, Monsters Inc., Shrek + many more - or perhaps from his fabulous New Yorker covers. Here's a short bio from his site.
