In The Night the Lights Went Out On Christmas by Ellis Paul (illustrated by Scott Brundage; Albert Whitman, 2015), a neighborhood of families have a yearly Christmas lights competition, with larger holiday displays each year. One year, however, the surge from the holiday lights causes all the world’s power to go out, and the stars visible in the night sky give their own light show. The story is formulaic and predictable, and it is certainly not realistic. Don’t let that bother you! The emphasis in the end is on the “real meaning of Christmas,” with an emphasis on the community aspects of the secular holiday traditions.
I appreciate this book for the silly story that it is. I do not particularly get into decorating my house and I feel many others go overboard, so the emphasis on “back to the basics” is a sweet one. For a secular holiday book, this one is a nice selection.
