The Krampus Night Before Christmas

'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse... And then the clock strikes thirteen and you wake to hear a thud downstairs. Investigating, you discover that your home has been invaded by two red-cloaked, and bearded, strangers. Before you know what is happening, Krampus the Christmas Devil has abducted Santa Claus, and it's up to you to save Saint Nick before Christmas Day dawns and the cruel, birch-wielding, goat-leggéd one usurps the generous gift-giver's position, taking his place forever. He knows if you've been good or bad, so be good for goodness sake... Throughout the course of the adventure, YOU decide which path to take, which risks to brave, and even which of the strange creatures you will meet along the way to engage in battle. Success is by no means certain and you may well fail to complete the adventure at your first attempt. However, with experience, skill, and maybe even a little luck, each new attempt should bring you closer to your ultimate goal. But whether you succeed in your quest will be down to the choices YOU make.

It's two days before Christmas and a quiet Rhode Island town is about to be visited by a number of unexpected guests-including a pair of very different Krampuses. Are they there to protect the innocent, or to exact revenge for a long-forgotten tragedy? Some curses fade over time, while others grow stronger. In this homage to Dickens's A Christmas Carol, a young boy named Christoph and his friends must find some way to atone for a wrong committed a generation before they were born. Praise for The Night Before Krampus: "A wicked good story that will appeal to readers of all ages. Destined to become a Christmas classic-excuse me, a Krampus classic!" - Rodman Philbrick, Newbery Honor Author "Peter Johnson's The Night Before Krampus takes readers through the twisting streets of the other side of Christmas. Will Christoph beat his family's curse and solve the mystery? Or will the Wolf, also known as Revenge, live up to his name? Part mystery, part myth, this book will scare the Dickens out of readers, while at the same time make them want to wish each other a 'Merry Krampus.'" - Kelly Easton, Golden Kite Award Winner Praise for Peter Johnson's Other Books What Happened: "What Happened is the most gorgeously written YA novel of 2007" - Booklist, Starred Review The Amazing Adventures of John Smith, Jr. AKA Houdini: "Poignant and downright hilarious, delivered in a voice that's wonderfully authentic." - Kirkus Reviews, "Best Book," Starred Review Out of Eden: "It's the inexplicability of cruelty that makes this horrifying page-turner so effective." - Kirkus Reviews

The Krampus, a folkloric devil associated with St. Nicholas in Alpine Austria and Germany, has been embraced by the American counterculture and is lately skewing mainstream. The new Christmas he seems to embody is ironically closer to an ancient understanding of the holiday as a perilous, haunted season. In the Krampus' world, witches rule Christmas, and saints can sometimes kill.

Fourteen-year-old Maggie Ogden thinks she knows everything there is to know about Grandfather Clement Clarke Moore and his legendary poem, Twas the Night Before Christmas. All this changes Christmas Eve 1854 when Chelsea Manor receives an unexpected visitor - Henry Livingston; a young man searching for evidence to provide his grandfather, Major Henry, is the true author of the famous holiday poem. The night takes a strange turn when Maggie and Henry come across another intruder in Chelsea Manor. After following a peculiar boy down a secret opening within the fireplace and through an underground tunnel full of mechanical sleighs, Maggie and Henry discover Poppel, a hidden village under New York City. Faced with the deadly challenges presented by the legend of The Three Sisters, Maggie and Henry are forced to play by Poppel's rules and those who run the cursed village. And they quickly learn that not only is leaving Poppel harder than arriving, but there are even more dangerous lies and mysterious truths to Clement Clarke Moore, Christmas, and the menacing creature, Krampus, than anyone could have known.

Merry Krampus Night is a spoof of the Clement C. Moore classic The Night Before Christmas, but instead of waiting for Santa to come and give presents, party guests are waiting for Krampus, the Christmas demon, to come and play guitar in their goth band. Krampus is known throughout Eastern Europe as the horned Christmas demon who steals naughty children and puts them in his giant basket. It's a horrific practice, and terrifying to all children who experience it. But why, exactly, does Krampus do this? What led him to such extremes?Merry Krampus Night posits that Krampus has feelings, too. Poor Krampus, who plays the blues in this story, sings out his woes to terrified and delighted party guests in a remote Edward Gorey-esque house on the fifth of December. The problem: Krampus is lonely. He has to kidnap children just to have some company during the holidays. His methods may be malicious, but his intentions are - actually, his intentions are really, really bad.

Santa's biggest challenge on Christmas Eve is convincing little Krampus to go to bed in this delightful Christmas bedtime story.