The Night the Lights Went Out on Christmas

September 14, 2015
The Griswoldian escalation of holiday decorating among competitive neighbors has an unexpected ripple effect in this rhyming fable inspired by a song from Paul’s holiday album, City of Silver Dreams. After years of trying to outdo each other with lights and inflatable lawn ornaments, the residents of Christmas Block create a visible-from-outer-space display that draws carloads of people “driving at their leisure./ They’d gawk and squawk and stare in shock,/ while their children had near seizures.” A blown fuse causes a global blackout, but the resulting celestial light display may prove the best decoration of all. Brundage’s increasingly flashy and jam-packed scenes match the over-the-top silliness of Paul’s song, before creating a stark contrast in later pages awash in nature’s inky blackness and astral shimmer. A free download of Paul’s tune is available. Ages 4–7. Illustrator’s agency: Shannon Associates.