Accomplished musician and award-winning author Michael Sheahan dedicates himself to the Christmas tradition through rhythmic narration and vibrant illustrations in his children’s book, “Mr. Holidays Presents: The Roof Top Hop.”

The book follows Santa Claus as he travels to different households on Christmas Eve night. Sheahan introduces a character, Mr. Holidays, to address the reader and heighten his or her interest in the tale.

“I feel that Mr. Holidays helps to make new traditions and to bring back that old feeling of Christmas,” says Sheahan. “People used to read A Christmas Carol or ‘‘Twas the Night Before Christmas,’ back when literature and the family and this holiday were so well-connected.”

Sheahan adds that the modern perception of Christmas has altered, and comprises a dinner and a brief exchange of gifts.

 “Many children today don’t get a chance to experience a lot of the things that I enjoyed as a kid. I can remember me and my sister shopping from Canal Street to Fifth Avenue with bags in our hands, in the blistering cold. Today, everything’s done online, and it’s become so impersonal.”

Sheahan believes that his book, which accompanies his four-track music album and an instructional dance D.V.D., reestablishes older traditions. He reminisces about “great times spent with my family, whether we were reading, or playing music, in front of the Christmas tree.”

Over recent months, “Mr. Holidays Presents: The Roof Top Hop” has received top industry awards, including: The Independent Book Publisher Award in the holiday book category, and two Moonbeam Children’s Book Awards for Best Holiday Book and Best Children’s Book with Music/Theatrical.

Bobby E. Boyd – a songwriter who earned the 2005 Grammy Award for Best Country Song – called the track “The Roof Top Hop” a “great new Christmas song . . . Definitely a new classic.”

Sheahan, a retired New York Police Department detective, studied at the renowned Fiorello H.

LaGuardia High School for Music & Arts and Performing Arts. He won several competitions for the accordion, banjo, flute, mandolin, tin whistle and violin. Sheahan also performed at several venues in New York City, most notably: Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center and St. Patrick’s Cathedral.

While in high school, he and his sister founded The Sheahan School of Music and Dance. Sheahan studied performance in college, and played first violin with The New York Symphony Orchestra. Currently, he serves as president and chief executive officer at Finest Worldwide Entertainment.   
 
The book, with accompanying C.D. and D.V.D., can be purchased on Amazon.com or FinestEntertainmentStore.com for $19.99, plus shipping and handling. Local businesses, such as The Butcher’s Fancy in Yonkers, N.Y. also sell the book.

A percentage of the proceeds from “Mr. Holidays Presents: The Roof Top Hop” will be donated to three charities: Cocktails that Care, A Prom to Remember for Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, and the St. Baldrick’s Foundation for Children’s Cancer Research.