The Night The Lights Went Out on Christmas - Hardcover

Paul, Ellis

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0807545430 ISBN 13: 9780807545430

Publisher: Albert Whitman & Company, 2015

Synopsis

Based on acclaimed singer-songwriter Ellis Paul's Christmas song, this hilarious tale focuses on an inevitable part of the holiday season--lights! Year after year, the neighbors on one suburban street try to outdo one another with their holiday decorations, until one night their efforts take out the world's power grid. Once the neighborhood is dark, though, they're finally able to clearly see the stars above--a simple, perfect Christmas show. Includes free downloadable mp3.

About this title

About the Authors

Ellis Paul is a singer and songwriter whose style bridges pop and modern folk. In a career spanning more than twenty years, he has released eighteen albums, including The Day After Everything Changed. The first of his two children's albums, The Dragonfly Races, was one of NPR's top ten picks for 2008. His first children's book, published in 2014, is The Hero in You, based on his album of the same name. He grew up in northern Maine and is now based in Boston.

Scott Brundage is an award-winning illustrator whose works have appeared in major newspapers and magazines throughout the U.S. This is his first picture book for children. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife and lazy dog.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

The Night the Lights Went Out on Christmas

By Ellis Paul

ALBERT WHITMAN & Company

Copyright © 2015 Ellis Paul
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-0-8075-4543-0

CHAPTER 1

Every Christmas since 1960, the Johnsons have filled their yard with nifty blinking reindeer, Santas, dwarves, and stars.

It started kind of innocently, just lights within a tree.

Then the mailbox got all lit up, then the chimney, then the eaves.

Then the half-shell Mary was blinking neon blue. Then the hydrant, then the doghouse, then they built a petting zoo!

With electric livestock — llamas, horses, donkeys, camels, mules — and a life-sized baby Jesus, sparkling like a desert jewel!

Well, the lights so rattled the neighborhood that the Smiths planned a revolt led by a neon Santa Claus that buzzed and sparked a thousand jolts.

The Williams rolled out cotton snow.

The Wheelers pinched a grinch.

Mr. Greenberg lit a menorah with eight foot flames and did not flinch.

The Jacksons inflated snowmen inside their manger scene.

The three wise men all stood confused.

Snow in the desert? Is this a dream?

Well, things got so darned cluttered that every house along the street vanished beneath the twinkling junk, like pajamas beneath the sheets.

(Continues...)

Excerpted from The Night the Lights Went Out on Christmas by Ellis Paul. Copyright © 2015 Ellis Paul. Excerpted by permission of ALBERT WHITMAN & Company.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

Edition details

• Publisher: Albert Whitman & Company
• Publication date: 2015
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0807545430
• ISBN 13: 9780807545430
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 32