Fifty Cajun Christmas Eves

A Cajun Christmas Eve's 50th Anniversary

The children's classic that launched Pelican Publishing's Children's Book Division, and helped introduce Cajuns to the world, celebrates its 50th anniversary.

Alexandra Kennon

If you, like me, grew up with The Cajun Night Before Christmas as a fixture on your bookshelf—excitedly plucking it down once a year for some parent or grandparent to read its Cajun-accented rhymes aloud—then you probably also have trouble imagining a time before Louisiana culture was immortalized in the pure form of children’s books.

But prior to The Cajun Night Before Christmas’s publication in 1973, there weren’t many—if any—children’s books that highlighted local culture. ”There weren’t a lot of local and regional children’s books that were in existence at the time. And I really think that it resonated with people,” explained Scott Campbell, Publisher at Pelican Publishing (now an imprint of Arcadia Publishing), who recently released the 50th Anniversary Edition of the beloved classic, which Campbell has written a forward to and is signing copies of at holiday events across the region.

Campbell points out that fifty years ago, Cajuns—along with their uniquely rich language, music, and cuisine—did not exist in the national public consciousness, the way they do today in an era post-Paul Prudhomme and other celebrity culture-bearers. Many families living outside of Louisiana, and in-state but beyond Acadiana, too, were introduced to Cajuns—some storybook version of them, anyway, with heavy Cajun-French accents and a little home deep in the swamp—by this adaptation of Clement Moore’s classic poem.

Back in 1973, Dr. Milburn Calhoun had just purchased Pelican Publishing, which according to Campbell was struggling financially at the time. A lover of books, Calhoun heard an advertisement for a car dealership on the radio about the Cajun figure of Papa Noël. “And Dr. Calhoun pulled his car over, and he [said], ‘Man, that would be a great children’s book,’” Campbell explained. Calhoun reached out to J.B. Kling, Jr., who would adapt/write the text for the book from the original poem under the pseudonym “Trosclair.”

According to Campbell, illustrator James Rice had ridden his motorcycle from Texas to pitch a different book, to which Calhoun replied something along the lines of, “You know what, I don’t like your book. Can you draw an alligator?” Needless to say, Rice pro ceeded to draw “fifty different alligators in every pose possible,” which were the early templates for Gaston, the now-iconic (and trademarked) Green-Nosed Alligator. The Cajun Night Before Christmas’s initial publication fifty years ago launched Pelican’s children’s book devision, which because of this title is today Peli can’s largest segment.

These days, Campbell said, The Cajun Night Before Christmas is selling better than ever before, and it’s only increasing in popularity, especially with the internet making it easy for those out of the state to access it. “For some reason, it’s actually gaining more traction, I think because there’s so many ex-pats, you know, people who’ve had to move because of hurricanes, and jobs, and everything else,” Campbell posited. “I think that a lot of people, you know, want to reconnect.”

He says at book signings, he frequently hears from grandparents with grandkids living outside of Louisiana in cities like Dallas, who make a point of buying them the book as a way of sharing their Louisiana heritage. “So I hear a lot of that,” Campbell said. “Because it’s important for these people to share the history and the heritage with kids and don’t grow up with it.”

Find the 50th Anniversary Special Edition of The Cajun Night Before Christmas in local book stores (like The Shop at The Historic New Orleans Collection or Fleurty Girl) as well as larger retail ers. Scott Campbell will also be present signing copies at the Steinhauer Christmas Extravaganza Arts & Crafts Expo in Covington December 2–4, and Helen Brett Gift & Jewelery Show in Gonza les December 9–11.