It's Christmas Eve in Maine, and Miss Moody and her boarders Millie and Emery--as well as Miss Moody's pup Smittens--are all tucked into bed when out in the barnyard there arises such a clatter.

It turns out that Santa has been grounded by sick reindeer, and Christmas hangs in the balance for girls and boys all over the world. But it also turns out that Santa couldn't have picked a better yard for an emergency landing, because who's more adept than a Maine farmer at getting a broken-down machine (or sleigh) back into service.

This verbal and visual lark turns "The Night Before Christmas" into a tall tale of good old Yankee ingenuity.

Douglas Coffin, with a background in graphic design, produced his nationally syndicated cartoon strip "Fletcher's Landing" in the early 1980s. He published editorial cartoons in a weekly paper for 20 years while also working as a commercial illustrator, typographer and art director. In 1987 he began his career as a lettercutter in stone, hand-carving memorials, donor walls and building dedications. He also demonstrates and teaches the history of letterforms and the alphabet. ONE MAINE CHRISTMAS EVE originally appeared, in a slightly altered state, in 1978 in The Maine Times. This is his first book. Douglas lives in Stockton Springs, Maine.