GOODNIGHT SANDMAN

Jacob the Sandman befriends the Night Monster when he goes to gather dream sand.

Drescher’s text, translated from German, is heavy on exposition as it tells readers about an evening when the elfin Sandman, Jacob, oversleeps and neglects his duty to sprinkle dream sand over the homes of sleeping children in order to give them good dreams. When he and his helper, Milo the mouse (just a head shorter than Jacob), belatedly arrive at the hilltop to gather the sand, they find the massive, reptilian Night Monster and are afraid until they realize that he’s a misunderstood, kindhearted soul. He says he’s afraid of the dark, and he goes into children’s bedrooms to seek a cozy place for himself, and he never means to scare anyone. Jacob and Milo then welcome the monster to accompany them on their dream-sand–sprinkling mission in their hot air balloon, and after that they welcome him back to Jacob’s cozy home and rename him Albie. The story is every bit as haphazard and meandering as this summary makes it seem, and redundant art does little to elevate it, though the full-bleed, double-page–spread watercolors are better-executed and more appealing than the writing is.

Not exactly dreamy.