One Dark Night

by Lisa Wheeler, Ivan Bates (Illustrator)

Overview

Evenings at home with Mouse and Mole are always safe and cozy, until one dark night they venture outside for a moonlit walk and find something waiting for them.  With its satisfying ending, this adventure is a perfect read-aloud for every night.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780547543109
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	04/16/2024
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	32
File size:	40 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	1 - 12 Years

About the Author

LISA WHEELER is the author of several award-winning picture books, including Sixteen Cows, One Dark Night, and Mammoths On the Move, which received a Parent's Choice Recommended Award. She lives near Detroit, Michigan. www.lisawheelerbooks.com

IVAN BATES is the well-known illustrator of Just You and Me and The Dark at the Top of the Stairs, both by Sam McBratney. He lives with his family in England.

Editorial Reviews

"Engaging rhymes and well-timed cross-cutting between the scenes creates an air of shivery expectancy as Mouse and Mole head into what looks like a direct confrontation with a bear," PW said. Ages 3-7. (Aug.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

PreS-K-Mouse and Mole share a "wee little" life in a "wee little" house, and decide to venture out one dark night through a swamp and wood. Fearful and nervous, the mole relies on the braver mouse to lead them along. Meanwhile, a hungry, impatient bear appears to be waiting for something before he can eat from the full table he has set in his lair. Mole and Mouse become lost and scared, while Bear decides to go out and find what he is waiting for, grumpily approaching the two friends and growling "YOU'RE LATE!" The little creatures are then happily relieved, and readers see that they are the anticipated guests of Bear, who has waited for their visit to share the feast he has prepared. Wheeler has written a menacingly suspenseful romp in scenes alternating between Mouse and Mole's venture and Bear's imposing anger. The wax pencil crayon and watercolor illustrations depict the lair scenes in browns and yellows and the outdoor nighttime vistas in blue greens, and the characters' expressions nicely reflect all the nervous tension. Children will probably not realize that Bates has provided a bit of foreshadowing in the original lair scene showing an abundantly set table. Deliciously scary.-Rita Soltan, formerly at Baldwin Public Library, Birmingham, MI Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

School Library Journal

The circumstances are fraught with trepidation as a few citizens of the forest, at opposite ends of the food chain, meet one another in the dark of the night. Readers meet Mole and Mouse, two chums who share a snug abode, and Bear, who fully fills his BIG GIANT den with BEASTLY growls and jowls, not to mention an outsized hunger. For inexplicable reasons, Mouse and Mole venture into the night: "The two teensy friends / Left their wee tiny house. / 'I'm scared of the dark,' / Mole whispered to Mouse." But stalwart Mouse urges them on: "Through sharp thistle thorns, / Into marsh misty woods." Meanwhile, Bear is gnashing about his abode, working up a voluminous hunger. "I want something to eat / And I want it now," he growls, a full-frontal head-shot filling the page, blowing readers back. He charges out into the night and it looks as though Mouse and Mole will soon be victims of the wrong place at the wrong time. They hear some commotion: "Mole shivered. Mouse shook. / Their fur stood up straight. / The SOMETHING was Bear, / Who grumbled . . . 'You're late!' " Hand in hand, they skip back to Bear's lair for a feast. A very encouraging story in praise of unlikely friendships, told with poetic economy and a nod to the fact that such liaisons are ruefully rare. Bates's (Do Like a Duck Does, 2002, etc.) watercolors, with their touches of waxy tactility, move with surety and character between tension and sweet resolution. (Picture book. 3-7)

Kirkus Reviews

"A very encouraging story in praise of unlikely friendships."—Kirkus Reviews
"Cleverly mixing suspense and humor, this well-crafted book . . . Will surprise, satisfy and spur repeat readings."—Publishers Weekly

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From the Publisher