Customer Reviews

'Twas the Night B'Fore Christmas: An African-American Version

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I looked at the excerpt for this book. This is by far the worst version of this great classic story I have ever seen. I use the word seen because "I can't read it!", looks like someone threw some letters together and called them words. I am African-American, I read "English". I remember reading a version of this story with the orginal words to my son and I wanted him to be able to do the same with his son, only with illustrations that look like us African-Americans.

I just loved it. My daughter, a kindergardener brought it home from the library today, and here I am purchasing it already it was so enjoyable. I am a white woman (if it matters). I dislike what feels to me like no diversity in children's books, or rather the kinds of stories I was raised on 40 years ago. Likewise I don't like the lack of diversity in toys, movies...neither of my children fit the 'retail' norm. To me, this was not so much "An African American Version" as a just a book I loved to read and they loved to hear. There was a different word here or there than the version I seem to have memorized accidentally (no matter, I never could figure out what a sugar plum was anyway). I love it that the book is so big, makes the already wonderful illustrations more enjoyable and easier for my kids to see as they lay on either side of me when I read. The book focuses on The Night Before Christmas, not the night before Christmas in a black household, so I liked that too. And I was especially happy my daughter selected this book since she is biracial (again, if that matters), my son is also biracial and disabled, and I feel it is so easy to find non-minority books and toys and movies I love everyday finds like this book. Now if Walt Disney would be so kind as to give us an African American princess (for starters), I'd be much obliged.

I hope everything I said would compel anyone of any nationality to get this book.

Finally! Too good to miss! I am a grade school librarian and I am always searching for books that speak to our children. I have ordered other titles by this author/illustrator and will be looking forward to more from Ms. Rosales.

Exquisite illustrations bring vivid new life to this traditional holiday poem. Portraying an African-American family and Santa Claus, Melodye Rosales gives readers the gift of broadening their visions to include, "candy and sweet short'nin' bread." Old Saint Nick never looked so good nor acted so spry as he's "jumpin', an a-hoppin'--/doin' the pigeonwing." The expressions on the faces of the father and little baby convey the joy and suprise of a midnight Christmas visit from an avuncular and charming Santa. The perfect book for a Christmas present!

I have been searching for a version of Twas the Night Before Christmas for my daughter that would have either a little black girl or black Santa and was so excited when I saw this title. However, looking at the sample pages I was not only disappointed but appalled to see the incorrect grammar. Why does an African-American version have to be grammatically incorrect? What a horrible message to send to children!!!

I took a look inside the book only to see incorrect spelling and improper grammer. I would never read this to a child. This book is an insult to African Americans. It appears to be a joke.

I have NOT yet read this book, but I know what it is about, and why it was written. I have some advice for those who castigate this 'version' because of dialect, spelling, grammar, etc, etc: read (or, perhaps, try to read!) the original version of Uncle Remus, by Joel Chandler Harris. Several steps 'up' from Disney's "Song of The South" movie.... Tar Baby and all. BTW, Disney has never released that movie for home video, but it is available overseas, and in the states as a low-quality PAL-to-VHS conversion.
And in a more modern setting, after watching the movie "Precious", read the book on which it is based, "Push", by 'Sapphire'. If Harris had written the original "Night Before Christmas" tale instead of Clark Clement Moore, it would have come out just like Melodye Rosales' book which some of you are vociferously complaining about... and more like "Push", language-wise.

My son is 17 years old and I purchased this book when it first hit Barnes and Noble in 1996. I have read it every year since. It has become a family tradition. My son would never admit it, but he sits and listens to it, even at age 17. I have purchased 5 copies for friends and family through the years. I am a Speech-Language Pathologist and I have shared this book with many children. I signed on today to purchase another copy and was shocked to find the negative comments. It is interesting how different some perspectives are so different. This story reminds me of the southern dialect that my grandparents use. My grandmother is 96 years old and I love listening to her stories about life and family. As a kid I loved going "down south" to Grandma's house. I remember bread puddin' baking in a pot and eating my grandma's shortin' bread, just as described in this book. The author gives an explanation of the dialect used. There was a time that African Americans as slaves would over hear stories from the "Big House" and they learned to adapt what they over heard because they were not allowed to be educated. Again, I have read this book to my son a thousand times. He is very articulate, speaks standard English, performs well academically and spelling has not been a problem for him. I explained the dialect to him once at age 4 and he has always been able to understand why it is written in the dialect that it is. The pictures are absolutely beautiful and I am so proud of how the images depict us, (I am African American) the African American family. I hope I will be able to read this version to my grandchildren some day.

This book was a delightful find as I teach special education and my kids delight in Santa Claus. We have puppets that reflect caucasion and african faces and now we have another version of the Christmas tale. The copy is a library copy. I am astounded that the library discarded such a wonderful book!

This is about one of the most ridiculous products of misinterpreted "political correctness" that I can imagine. Next we get the african american easterbunny, Martin Luther King in a whiteskin version and not to forget the sory of the native american pope in Rome...
Nice attempt to reap up some extra profits for christmas, and please leave us alone with such nonsense. I hold myself beack from using the adequate term instead of nonsense.