Santa Claus spreads holiday cheer to a hard-working librarian on Christmas Eve in this humorous take on the children’s classic.
Due to low staffing, a librarian must spend her Christmas Eve stacking the shelves at a library in desperate need of renovations. After the strain of a long night that has left her feeling “like Bob Cratchit in A Christmas Carol,” she is pleasantly surprised to see Santa and his six elves coming to her rescue in a red bookmobile.
In this delightful retelling of Clement C. Moore’s classic, Santa signs Newbery winners and starred Caldecotts and stocks the library shelves with Hawthorne, Steinbeck, Millay, and Hemingway. After reading to the children and drinking some hot chocolate, Santa puts his elves to work replacing the rugs, fixing leaks, and organizing gifts according to the Dewey decimal system. As he leaves, Santa pays overdue fees and booms, “Do one more good deed. Have a real merry Christmas—teach someone to read!”
Praise for Librarian’s Night Before Christmas
“Santa is appropriately jolly and the elves, exuberant. A library cat and mouse contribute to the antics.” —School Library Journal
“This volume will definitely find a place in the hearts of librarians and library lovers.” —Review of Texas Books
David Davis, known for his keen sense of humor and lyrical style, has written several titles in Pelican’s Night Before Christmas Series, including Redneck Night Before Christmas, Trucker’s Night Before Christmas, and Nurse’s Night Before Christmas. His books Ten Redneck Babies and Jazz Cats were named to the Children’s Choice Top 100 List. A finalist for the Texas Golden Spur Award, Jazz Cats was also a selection of the Accelerated Reader Program. Davis has published pen-and-ink artwork, cartoons, poems, humor, and short stories in various magazines and newspapers. He won the Mississippi Press Association award in 1996 for his political cartoons. An active speaker and presenter, Davis lives in Forth Worth, Texas.
Jim Harris’s delightful, eye-popping artwork has graced the pages of original books and classic retellings, such as The Tortoise and the Hare, Rapunzel, and The Three Little Pigs. Three Little Dinosaurs, written and illustrated by Harris, is a hilarious twist to the classic tale of the three little pigs, as a hungry, pea-brained T-rex chases three brachiosaur brothers. Critically acclaimed Tuesday in Arizona, written and illustrated by Harris and his wife, is the tale of a downtrodden miner and his pack-rat companion. Harris currently resides in Upper Moutere, New Zealand.