THE NIGHT PARADE

Nighttime can’t just be for sleeping; what do toddlers really do at night?

“Have you ever wondered what happens at night / while mothers and fathers lie sleeping? // Children wake up. / They climb out of their beds, / some crawling, some / running, some leaping.” They gather together and skip through town. They sing songs and bake cakes for the moon. “They build castles of sand. / They paint pictures by hand. / They turn somersault / flips through the park.” They dress up and march and read mountains of books and tell each other magical tales. But with each tale, they get dozier and dozier until they toddle back to bed and say goodbye to friends as the moon goes down. Despite one tiny hiccup in the meter at the close, Roscoe’s rhyme makes a great rhythmic bedtime tale. Little listeners will be eager to lay down their heads with the prospect of a night’s adventure with whales and mermaids. In Walker’s watercolors, a multiethnic crew of young, happy revelers marches and plays musical instruments by the light of a smiling moon…a utopia of cakes, costume and play.

A fine addition to the bedtime story shelf—it practically croons itself.