’Twas the Night Before Christmas on the Farm

Manning flavors Clement C. Moore’s Christmas chestnut with barnyard imagery, recasting the poem from a curious lamb’s point of view. As Santa’s sleigh approaches, “ ‘It’s a bird!’ the lamb thought, for what else could fly?/ She’d never seen something else soar through the sky.” She remains confused, comparing the man with the round belly, tractorlike sleigh, and horned “horses” to a farmer until she hears him say “ho, ho, ho.” If the lamb’s realization feels sudden, Collina’s digital artwork—featuring sweetly snoozing animals, each with their own fittingly filled stocking—has a snow-filled, fantasy-flavored sheen that helps give this new variation a bit of the original’s timeless feel. Ages 4–7. [em](Sept.) [/em]