WHILE YOU ARE ASLEEP

It's night, but many people are working: Marsha, who works in an all-night doughnut shop; Donald, a gas station attendant; and all the people who help get Donald's wife to the hospital to have a baby—telephone operator, policeman, taxi driver. The story is simple but nicely shaped to convey its image of a busy, mysterious though essentially ordinary time. In illustrations that nicely capture the contrast between the quiet, dimly-lit streets and the patches of lively activity, Hepworth adds appealing, carefully selected detail. Her people, like Susan Jeschke's, tend to be as almost aggressively plain, but they also have a nice warmth and humanity. Good debuts for both author and illustrator. (Picture book. 4-8)