???? Kids Book Read Aloud: SIEGFRIED’S SILENT NIGHT by Brad and Toby Bluth

Sure! Here’s a sanitized version of the transcript:

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Hello there, it’s Ani! I’m so happy you’re here. Today, we’re going to read a book that’s very special to my family. My kids ask me to read it to them every Christmas. It’s called “Siegfried’s Silent Night.” If you have a copy, go get it so you can read along with me.

[Music]

“Siegfried’s Silent Night,” story by Brad Bluth, illustrations by Toby Bluth.

It was Oberndorf, Austria, in the year 1818, the home of the Von Mice family. Siegfried, the second youngest of the Von Mice family, sits cutting gold paper into the shape of a bright Christmas star for the top of the tree. He does a good job for Papa to see. Papa Vaughn is a sailor and has long been away, but his family is expecting him home on Christmas Day.

Lanky Lars, the eldest, is directing the scene while Tina helps Katrina trim the fresh evergreen. Roly-poly Pop-Up helps his mama bake treats. He rolls out the dough for the big cookie sheets, and Mama holds the youngest, her new baby, Thor.

When they’re summoned by the sound of a knock at the door, the whole family hears and, thrilled by the sound, they bound to the front door. But it isn’t Papa. Hunched before the Von Mice family is Uriah, the landlord, with a demeanor as cold as ice. The rat slithers in.

“What a rogue of a gent! Season’s greetings,” he says. “Do you have the rent?”

“Then Papa comes home,” begins Mama Vaughn, but the rat interrupts, “Stop, stop, stop! Don’t go on. You see, my dear lady,” the sly rat begins, pretending to be sad but grinning inside. “Such sad news! It was a storm, you see. They found no survivors when your husband’s ship sank.”

Mama lets out a cry, and Uriah presses near. “I could help with your family if you’d wed me, my dear. I’m a man of some means, with stocks and properties to share. You’d have no rent worries, and I like kitty’s cell.”

He grabs Mama Vaughn, throws his arms around her waist, and gives her a kiss, much to her distaste. This is the straw that breaks the rat’s back. The Von Mice family springs to attack! Oh, how the fur flies as they tumble about. There is kicking and biting and whiskers pulled out. The big rat is stronger and about to win when Mama clouts his head with a rolling pin. The rat spits and sputters, and his eyes spin around. Then out comes a howl, a horrible sound.

“I’ll have my revenge!” he vows with a shout, then he forcibly kicks the Von Mice family out. The night is now silent. They’re cold in the snow, and the fatherless family has no place to go. Mama gathers her children and says, “Stick together. Your Papa would say that.”

Then Siegfried speaks up, “Papa’s not dead! When he comes home, he’ll take care of that rat!”

“Look out!” Mama Vaughn screams as a cat springs out from nowhere. Panicked, they scatter in every direction, seeking someplace to hide, some place for protection. When the danger has passed, they realize the cost: there lie Siegfried’s glasses, but Siegfried is lost.

The church bells toll. A shrine near the church holds the little lost soul. Around him, silent figures seem frozen as can be. Without the aid of glasses, Siegfried cannot see. This shrine holds a creche and the Christmas child, the holy infant so tender and mild.

Siegfried is freezing. Will he end this way? He thinks of his father and starts to pray. “Oh please, God, I haven’t been naughty. Don’t let me end up a frozen mouse body!”

It could have been chance or carefully planned, but it seemed at that moment someone lent a hand. For out of the blue, coming his way, are the Von Mice family and a boy with a sleigh. Siegfried hears them and squeals, “That family is mine!” and he gets so excited he falls out of the shrine.

His mama cries, “Siegfried!” and so do the others. There is hugging and kissing from sisters and brothers. Mama gives him his glasses so Siegfried can see the boy who befriended his lost family. The boy’s name is Gustel. He smiles with delight, and in the boy’s eyes, all is calm, all is bright.

“I live in this church in a room that is nice. You can all live with me and be the church mice!” They go through the door and, to their delight, see people preparing for Christmas this night. Some deck the halls with boughs of pine while the choir sings praise to that night divine.

But one thing above all captures young Siegfried’s eye: the gold pipes of the organ reaching up to the sky. And the voice of the organ, as it sings with the choir, lifts the little mouse higher and higher. Gustel stops at his door. Siegfried looks back and then he says, “God’s house is beautiful!”

And the choir sings, “Amen.” A star in the sky shines a heavenly light as Mama tucks her children in bed for the night. Their bellies are full, their cares seem to cease, while the Von Mice family sleeps in heavenly peace.

All except Siegfried, who tosses and turns, an unsettled feeling inside of him churns. He climbs out of bed and says, “God, not to bother, but I can’t sleep. I’ve been thinking about Father. Now I know that you saved us from the jaws of the cat, and you saved us from freezing when it came down to that.

And I really like living here in your house, and I like the big organ, and I’ll be a good mouse. And I know you’ve watched Papa while he’s been away, so could you send him home for us Christmas Day?”

The little mouse, still not sure how to end his request, finishes with, “By the way, thanks.”

Now, who’s that in the shadows in this room in God’s house? What sinister figure is watching the mouse? This ominous someone in cloak and hat is their villainous landlord, Uriah the rat. He muffles a chuckle inside of his shroud.

“Now I will have the revenge that I vowed. So you like the big organ? Well, an organ needs bellows. If it looked like mice chewed them, you would be homeless fellows!”

So pleased with himself, he chuckles once more, then he slithers his way through the bellows room door. There lie the bellows made of leather and wood, the things mice might chew if they weren’t being good.

The rat rips the bellows; he chews and rips more, but he stops when he sees Siegfried standing in the door. He cannot leave this witness who has observed his attack, so he snatches the child and stuffs him in a sack.

He arrives at the docks just before dawn, where he’s going to drown Siegfried when he meets Papa Vaughn. Though his ship had sunk, Papa Vaughn is alright. He has been to his home and found the mess from the fight.

So he corners the rat and snarls, “What’s going on? There’s my wife and my babies! There’s my family!” Uriah denies knowing but begins to perspire when out pops Siegfried, screaming, “Uriah is a liar!”

Papa knows in a flash what has come about, so he draws back his fist and knocks the rat out. Christmas bells ring as the family unites. All were happy; Siegfried was delighted.

For not only had Papa come home Christmas Day, but the organist and priest wrote a new song to play. Not for the organ, but a song to sing of Joseph and Mary and the newborn King.

And Siegfried learned one thing as he heard “Silent Night”: what seems a misfortune can turn out all right.

What did Siegfried do when he was afraid and needed help? He prayed, didn’t he? Have you ever prayed when you needed help? God is always there for us.

I hope you enjoyed our story and have a very, very Merry Christmas! See you next time! If you liked this video and want to see more, be sure to subscribe and leave me a comment to let me know what your favorite books are.

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