SONG FOR A SUMMER NIGHT

A rhyming ode to the sights and sounds of a summer night.

A small town or subdivision sits quietly by a hill, with farmland in the distance. Children poke their heads out of windows waiting for the evening’s performance. In rhyme, the sounds and sights of coming night arrive one at a time: leaves go “shh-shh,” fireflies “glint-glint,” bellflowers “pring-pring,” and so on, each plant or animal adding to the twilight chorus. Children come out of their houses into the parkland, where birds and beasts and a rain of flowers gather and then disperse as dark comes. Ink, brush, and digital paint make a soft, blue landscape, and the warmth of the summer air is almost visible. The rhyme is a bit heavy, and a literalist might take issue with some of the cumulative sounds. Bellflowers really don’t ring, one does not hear the fireflies’ glint, and so on, but it all comes together in a refrain that sleepy children might murmur along with the read-aloud. The cover image is a little misleading: the scampering children do not seem to herald a lullaby.

Populated by pink, gold, and brown children, the story is a sweet evocation of the pleasures of nighttime.