The night before Christmas by Clement C Moore

cover image

Ill. by Amanda Brack. Lothian, 2015. ISBN 9780733635045
(Age: 4+) Recommended. Christmas, Lego. Subtitled, 'a brick story', the image on the front cover should give readers a clue about what is inside. Opening the book, they will laugh to see the poem, A night before Christmas, illustrated in Lego. Legend has it that the poem was first written by Clement Clarke Moore for his children on Christmas Eve in 1822, and was published the following year. It has been published in many forms ever since, a firm favourite in the USA, but I have not seen it done in Lego.
Children will thrill at the uses to which this iconic building block is put. I wanted to grab some and try the reindeer and the Christmas Tree myself, but instead marvelled at the skill at putting together these little bricks to make it look so much like Santa and his sleigh trawling across the sky.
The whole poem can be found here for those who wish to look more closely at this poem, originally called, A visit from St Nicholas, and classes may like to find other versions of the poem in their libraries to compare with this new edition.
It is great fun to work out what pieces were used for each page and how the pieces fit together to make a scene. Children may also like to see just how many non Lego pieces have been used in the book.
Fran Knight

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