★ 05/17/2021
A pale-skinned family of four—two parents and two children—takes a blissful summer night walk into the countryside that gives way to a breathless conclusion in this picture book by Dorléans. Narrated by one of the children, the prose shines with sensory acuity as the family leaves a village behind them with a particular location in mind. “We left the road, and the path/ climbed gently out of the valley./ A train sliced through the darkness,” one verso page reads as the family overlooks a landscape of fastidiously needled trees against a star-studded sky. Navy washes overlay graphite pencil and digital illustrations, with fine-lined detail so startlingly observed that readers will feel immersed in each expansive spread. Suspense builds as sparse beams of light illuminate the darkness page by page and each spread carries the family forward through the night. A graceful, perfectly paced appreciation of nature. Ages 3–7. (Apr.)
A 2021 New York Times/New York Public Library Best Illustrated Children's Book
'Awash in nocturnal blue, Dorleans' graphite pencil illustrations of a family of night time explorers evoke a luminous sense of wonder.' —The New York Times
'Suspense builds as sparse beams of light illuminate the darkness page by page and each spread carries the family forward through the night. A graceful, perfectly paced appreciation of nature.' —Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
'Breathtaking... Here night isn't scary; the unknown is exhilarating and the ending sunny and clear.' —Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW
'This hushed, intimate picture book creates a respite from the demands of the daytime world and pulls readers into a moment of pure wonder and peace.' —The Horn Book , STARRED REVIEW
'I love, love, LOVE this book. It captures everything wonderful about family night time adventures, both the hushed tone and the quiet magic of earth, air and sky. —Jane Yolen, author of Owl Moon
'Beautifully composed and often striking... This rewarding picture book invites children to experience a memorable encounter with the natural world.' —Booklist, STARRED REVIEW
'This picture book is full of vivid sensory details and atmospheric illustrations that create an experience of nature that both the young and young at heart will certainly cherish... Awe-inspiring.' —Shelf Awareness
★ 2021-02-09
Roused from sleep, two siblings head out into the night, walking in darkness with their parents to an undisclosed destination.
“Let’s go, so we get there on time,” their mother urges. The family walks enshrouded in blue night, through the “sleeping village,” past a big hotel lit up “like a chandelier,” into cow-dotted countryside, finally reaching thick woods. Watercolor-and–graphite pencil illustrations depict an enveloping nocturnal world through saturations of indigo. Young readers’ hearts will quicken, feeling embraced by night made real with breathtaking, full-bleed washes of blue that stretch across double-page spreads. This wondrous darkness gleams with reassuring lights (from lamps, windows, flashlights, glinting stars, a woozy moon) while meticulous pencil work provides specificity. A sweater’s cables claim readers’ attention, as do blades of grass, pine needles, fronds of fern, and a lacework of leaves in a magical night sky perforated by stars. Equally evocative sentences (in taut translations from French) appear in clear, white lettering, engaging the senses: “We threaded through the whispering forest. The earth was damp, the bark smelled comforting.” Keeping pace with this family, readers wonder where they’re headed and why they must start to hurry near the book’s conclusion. Urgency, exhilaration, and anticipation make the walk’s conclusion, a luminous, lemony daybreak, all the more powerful. All family members have pale skin and dark hair.
A gift—here night isn’t scary; the unknown is exhilarating and the ending sunny and clear. (Picture book. 4-10)
