You better watch out: Andrews McMeel Publishing Releases ...

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You better watch out: Andrews McMeel Publishing Releases….

‘Twas the Night Before Christmas:
21st Century Edition

Satirists Bruce Kluger and David Slavin take an outrageous swing at the Yule Season
in a hilarious illustrated update of the classic Christmas poem

NEW YORK — It has been nearly 200 years since the
first publication of A Visit from St. Nicholas, the
twinkling Christmas eve poem, commonly credited to
New York professor Clement Clarke Moore, that
would come to embody all the joys of the Yuletide
season—from the rosy-cheeked, jelly-bellied Santa
Claus, to his rooftop-romping reindeer, to children
everywhere, snug in their beds, dreaming of
sugarplums and toys.

Well, that was then and this is now.

In ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas: 21st Century
Edition, satirists Bruce Kluger and David Slavin
(National Public Radio, The Los Angeles Times, Young
Dick Cheney: Great American) take an outrageous swing
at the Christmas season, updating Moore’s classic
poem with all the shock, awe and corporate hijinks of
today’s headlines. In their telling, the Christmas
holiday is no longer a time of sparkling snowglobes
and good will to men, but rather an annual celebration
of profits, bonuses and cut-throat competition—complete with disgruntled elves, outsourced Santas,
union conflicts, Twittered conspiracies, randy reindeer, media hysteria, factory relocations, toxic
merchandise and a giant leveraged buyout that would rock the world from pole to pole.

Packing their verse with hilariously spun rhymes (“The workers grew grim, as they churlishly chored/
while Santa grew haplessly, craplessly bored”) and even funnier illustrations (picture Santa jumping on
Oprah’s couch, and his wife in a racy cover photo on Maxim), Kluger and Slavin spike the holiday egg
nog with smart and saucy sass—not to mention loads of laughs.

—‘Twas the Night Before Christmas: 21st Century Edition, 1 of 3—

‘TWAS THE NIGHT… Media hysteria, Twittered
(Cont’d) conspiracies, and

The story begins seven months shocking scandal erupt
before Christmas, as Santa and when Santa sells the
Dolores Claus prepare for the
upcoming Christmas season. To Pole in ‘Twas the Night
their delight, their nephew Kyle— Before Christmas: 21st
an investment banker from New
York—informs them that that he is Century Edition.
returning home to the Pole to
assume the role of Vice President
for Strategic Investment and
Quality Control of Santa's
Workshop. Before you can say
“leveraged buyout,” Santa's 970-
year-old toy factory is acquired by
GiganticCorp, a notorious
consumer behemoth whose
corporate subsidiaries include
pharmaceutical and chemical companies, oil
refineries, fast food chains, water parks, an
aerospace engineering firm and a wax-lips
manufacturer. Enter T. Clive Dingoe,
GigantiCorp's brash Australian CEO, who
promptly introduces Santa, Mrs. C. and their loyal
team of Workshop elves to the corporate
complexities of modern-day Christmas! ‘Twas the
Night Before Christmas: 21st Century Edition is not
only a cleverly written and engagingly illustrated
tale, but also a sly and pointed commentary on the
complicated times in which we live.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Bruce Kluger and David Slavin began writing and
producing satire for National Public Radio’s All Things
Considered in 2002. Their cultural and political commentary
has appeared in countless publications across the country,
including The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, The
Chicago Tribune and dozens of newspapers in the Los
Angeles Times-Washington Post News Service. Their work
has also been featured prominently online including The
Huffington Post, where they are recurring bloggers, and
Salon.com, which ran their acclaimed “Memo to George”
series during the Bush II administration. Their first book,
the satirical children’s biography Young Dick Cheney:
Great American (AlterNet Books), was published in 2008.

—‘Twas the Night Before Christmas: 21st Century Edition, 2 of 3—

‘TWAS THE NIGHT…
(Cont’d)
Bruce Kluger (www.brucekluger.com) is a member of USA Today’s Board of Contributors whose
work has also been featured in, among others, Parenting magazine, Psychology Today, Us Weekly,
Time Out New York, TV Guide, The New York Times, The Boston Globe, The Chicago Tribune, NickJr.com
and Time.com. He was co-author, with David Tabatsky, of Dear President Obama: Letters of Hope
from Children Across America (2009; Beckham Publications); and co-edited Marlo Thomas’ best-
selling books, The Right Words at the Right Time, Vols. 1 and 2 (2002 and 2006, Atria) and the
children’s anthology, Thanks & Giving: All Year Long (2004, Simon and Schuster Children's
Publishing), the latter of which became a Grammy-winning children's CD, for which Bruce served
as Associate Producer.
For the past 15 years, David has worked on television and radio as a voice-over artist, providing
narration for hundreds of national and regional commercials, as well as for The Late Show with David
Letterman, award-winning documentaries produced by National Geographic, PBS and the BBC, and
numerous audio books. He was also a contributor to the special 35th Anniversary re-release of
Marlo Thomas' Free to Be... You and Me (Running Press Kids), and Thanks & Giving: All Year Long.
Bruce and David live one block from each other in New York City. Both are married, and both have
two daughters.

‘TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS:
21st Century Edition
By Bruce Kluger and David Slavin
Published by Andrews-McMeel Publishing
Publication Date: October 19, 2010
Price: U.S.: $9.99 Canada: $12.99
80 pages, full color, paperback
ISBN: 978-0740797965
Please visit our Web site at www.TwasTheBook.com

—‘Twas the Night Before Christmas: 21st Century Edition, 3 of 3—