When ol' Cap'n Claus suddenly appears in his tugboat pulled by a team of eight seahorses, he surprises a weary first mate who has just begun his night watch on Christmas Eve.

The first mate never did believe his mammy's tall tales about the ol' Cap'n, and he can hardly believe his eyes as the ol' salt bounds aboard his boat with a fisherman's net full of booty. But there he is, with a red tailcoat, black boots, and pockets overflowing with minnows and smelt.

He quickly delivers his presents and then, just as quickly, abandons ship. After all, he does have a long night ahead of him. He has to visit all of the good little mateys and landlubbers around the world, even those who are out to sea.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR & ILLUSTRATOR

When not working as an associate editor of Weatherwise magazine, author Kimbra Cutlip lives with her husband and daughter aboard their sailboat in Maryland. When young friends visited her boat and asked, "How does Santa get in?", Ms. Cutlip responded by writing Sailor's Night Before Christmas. Ms. Cutlip also is the director of the American Academy of Underwater Sciences Board of Directors and has worked as an assistant scientific diving officer for the Smithsonian Institution. This is her first book.

Illustrator James Rice provided the artwork for the first book in Pelican's Twelve Nights Before Christmas series, the classic Cajun Night Before Christmas , in 1973. Since then, he has written and/or illustrated fifty-plus children's books, with more than 1,350,000 copies in print.

SAILOR'S NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS
By Kimbra Cutlip
Illustrated by James Rice
32 pp. 8½ x 11
31 color illustrations
ISBN: 1-56554-395-5
EAN: 978-1-56554-395-9