W. W. Denslow (1856–1915)

Dover's new edition of Night Before Christmas is a well-executed, faithful reproduction of Denslow's original 1902 publication. The artwork is sharp, the text is crisp, and there is none of the fuzzy or muddled nature that sometimes occurs when reproducing texts from before the time of digital files.

In each spread, the right-hand page contains the illustration for the stanza, while the left-hand page contains the text itself. Accompanying the text on the left-hand pages are smaller illustrations that are less directly related to the stanza at hand. While such a format seems typical of early twentieth-century books, it is less common today and may seem odd to some readers.

Children today may be also be surprised to see that Santa--St. Nick--is not attired in the red and white to which we've become accustomed. Denslow's St. Nick is dressed more like a gentleman of the time, albeit particularly warmly in fur coat and fuzzy pants.

All in all, this edition of Clement C. Moore's beloved classic would be a beneficial addition to readers' Christmas story collections.

Note: I received a digital galley of this book through NetGalley.… (mehr)

Denslow's Three Bears version is about a girl named Golden Hair. She is walking in the forest when she comes up on a house. She knocks and no one answers so she walks in. She notices that there is three of everything. She cleaned the house while she was there. When she was in the bedroom the bears came home. They laughed and invited Golden Hair to stay for dinner, and when she was ready to leave they wouldn't let her leave. The bears ended up going home with Golden Hair and they lived happily ever after.

This version had a twist from the version that I had known. Which kind of makes it more interesting to me. I mean I wouldn't say that it is my favorite, but the setting and tone were fairly nice.

Extension Idea 1: Name That Size!

Manipulatives that can be sorted by size, such as screws, doll furniture, cubes, paper clips
Trays, baskets, or paper plates for sorting

Using a variety of manipulatives, set up and label trays so that children can sort materials by size.

Label the trays as “big things,” “medium-sized things,” and “little wee things.”
Encourage children to sort the items by size and to recall the items in the story that were big, medium, and little.

Observation: How do children approach the problem and sort by size?

Extension Idea 2: Bear-O-Ramas

Materials

Clay
The Three Bears
Clay hammer
Etching tools
Rolling pin
Plastic knives
Cards
Shoeboxes


Children can make bear dioramas by recreating a scene from the story using clay.

Encourage children to form small groups and to select a scene from The Three Bears that they want to recreate.
Give each group a shoebox, and encourage children to work together to make the objects.
When the dioramas are finished, ask the children in each group to describe what is happening in the scene they have depicted. Write down responses on a card, and attach the card to their diorama.

Observation: Notice which scenes children choose and how they describe their dioramas.… (mehr)