Nighttime is the right time for young readers thanks to this perfect amalgamation of soothing text and image.
A cut-paper extravaganza welcomes young readers to the wonders of the nighttime.
The titular phrase “In the night garden” kicks off this exploration of a bedtime world. Indeed, those words repeat themselves several times as readers watch fireflies that resemble stars, the opening of perfumed moonflowers, and a black cat that acts as a guide through most of the book. Readers are led on a gentle journey past streams, crickets, and even bullfrogs croaking in the night before we see a tan-skinned child—depicted early on in the story gazing at stars—tucked into bed, yawning. Exceedingly delicate paper collages incorporate everything from ticket stubs and receipts to ledger books to make the darkness magical, the most impressive sight being the dramatically rendered harvest moon, all “fiery red” in the sky. Berger’s pen is just as adept as her scissors as she twists a turn of phrase into its simplest and most evocative form, as when “bats swoop and glide in the bluing sky.” Children are told not to fear when the light is gone or when they hear strange noises. “Just close your eyes and listen,” and young readers will do just that. Indeed, they’ll be unable to resist. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Nighttime is the right time for young readers thanks to this perfect amalgamation of soothing text and image. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: July 4, 2023
ISBN: 9780823449866
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Neal Porter/Holiday House
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2023
Although the landscapes Savage creates are highly stylized, they have a softness and gentle humor that will capture the...
In this strong graphic treatment of a traditional theme, 10 Halloween pumpkins are spirited away or destroyed one by one by various seasonally appropriate, sometimes-scary entities: a scarecrow, a mummy, a bolt of lightning, a hungry ghost, alligators in a pond, pirates (“Arrr!”), an owl, a witch and a spider.
In a visual style reminiscent of 1950s horror tales, Savage creates a highly dramatic and sensational sequence using strong color contrasts, including, of course, Halloween orange and black. Homely scenes of country life—fields, clothes on a line, a spooky mansion, a stormy churchyard—and more exotic ones—a witch’s kitchen, pirate skeletons on a stormy ocean—are all rendered in a strong, airbrushed graphic style. While the overall mood is scary and grotesque, there are light touches in several features, including the cat that appears on every spread, the alligators that morph from rock look-alikes to snapping monsters that consume the pumpkin, the mummy who mummifies a pumpkin and the doughboy ghost who makes a pumpkin into pie. The simple rhymes of the countdown have a sweetly repetitive nursery-rhyme quality, and they will help to reassure children who may be a little apprehensive about Halloween, as well as aiding counting and subtraction skills.
Although the landscapes Savage creates are highly stylized, they have a softness and gentle humor that will capture the imaginations of young children and add to their anticipation. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Aug. 29, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-8037-3938-3
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 20, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2013
A bland, dispensable alternative to Suzanne Bloom’s brilliant A Splendid Friend, Indeed (2005).
Playtime for a very small, very energetic mouse and a very large, very sleepy bear.
Eager to play, little Mo tugs on a tuft of big Beau’s fur. From then on it’s a game of mousie-see, mousie-do as Beau opens his eyes, bares his teeth, takes a deep breath, roars, bristles, stretches, scratches, yawns, and drops back off to sleep. That’s it. Drawn in scribbly strokes of brown crayon on rough paper for an extra-shaggy look, Beau towers hugely over his pale, pink-nosed accoster and seems barely to notice him even when he climbs up for a between-the-ears snooze. Mo’s nap lasts only a page turn—whereupon he’s off to cavort across the endpapers. The narrative is framed in short declarative sentences, with occasional changes of type size or color for variety. Ho and hum.
A bland, dispensable alternative to Suzanne Bloom’s brilliant A Splendid Friend, Indeed (2005). (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: May 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-927018-63-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Simply Read
Review Posted Online: March 20, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2015
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