THE HOUSE IN THE NIGHT

Name: THE HOUSE IN THE NIGHT
Author: Susan Marie Swanson
ISBN: 978-0-618-86244-3

by Susan Marie Swanson & illustrated by Beth Krommes ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 5, 2008

Krommes’s breathtaking scratchboard illustrations, in black and white with accents of yellow and gold, embody and enhance...

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Inspired by a traditional poem from The Oxford Nursery Rhyme Book, Swanson’s cumulative tale begins, “Here is the key to the house.”

Readers are welcomed inside the house, where they find a light, a bed within the light, a book on that bed and a bird inside that book. The book opens to reveal a bird that sings a song about the dark, and within that song are the moon and the sun shining on the moon’s face. And then, from deep in the night, the poem begins to climb back out of itself: “Sun in the moon, / moon in dark, / dark in the song, / song in the bird,” and so forth, finally arriving back to “the house in the night” which is, indeed, a “home full of light.”

Krommes’s breathtaking scratchboard illustrations, in black and white with accents of yellow and gold, embody and enhance the text’s message that light and dark, like comfort and mystery, are not mutually exclusive, but integral parts of each other. (Picture book. 3-7)

Pub Date: May 5, 2008

ISBN: 978-0-618-86244-3

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2008

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

- BOOK REVIEW
TO BE LIKE THE SUN
by Susan Marie Swanson & illustrated by Margaret Chodos-Irvine

- BOOK REVIEW
THE FIRST THING MY MAMA TOLD ME
by Susan Marie Swanson & illustrated by Christine Davenier

- BOOK REVIEW
LETTER TO THE LAKE
by Susan Marie Swanson & illustrated by Peter Catalanotto

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I CAN BE ANYTHING!

by Jerry Spinelli and illustrated by Jimmy Liao ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2010

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A young boy wonders aloud to a rabbit friend what he will be when he grows up and imagines some outrageous choices. “Puddle stomper,” “bubble gum popper,” “mixing-bowl licker,” “baby-sis soother” are just some of the 24 inspiringly creative vocations Spinelli’s young dreamer envisions in this pithy rhymed account. Aided by Liao’s cleverly integrated full-bleed mixed-media illustrations, which radiate every hue of the rainbow, and dynamic typesetting with words that swoop and dive, the author’s perspective on this adult-inspired question yields some refreshingly child-oriented answers. Given such an irresistible array of options—“So many jobs! / They’re all such fun”—the boy in the end decides, in an exuberant double gatefold, “I’m going to choose… / EVERY ONE!”—a conclusion befitting a generation expected to have more than six careers each. Without parents or peers around to corral this carefree child’s dreams, the possibilities of being whatever one wants appear both limitless and attainable. An inspired take on a timeless question. (Picture book. 3-6)

Pub Date: March 1, 2010

ISBN: 978-0-316-16226-5

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Little, Brown

Review Posted Online: April 14, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2010

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

- BOOK REVIEW
DEAD WEDNESDAY
by Jerry Spinelli

- BOOK REVIEW
MY FOURTH OF JULY
by Jerry Spinelli ; illustrated by Larry Day

- BOOK REVIEW
THE WARDEN'S DAUGHTER
by Jerry Spinelli

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THE GRUFFALO

by Julia Donaldson illustrated by Axel Scheffler ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 1, 1999

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The action of this rhymed and humorous tale centers upon a mouse who "took a stroll/through the deep dark wood./A fox saw the mouse/and the mouse looked good." The mouse escapes being eaten by telling the fox that he is on his way to meet his friend the gruffalo (a monster of his imagination), whose favorite food is roasted fox. The fox beats a hasty retreat. Similar escapes are in store for an owl and a snake; both hightail it when they learn the particulars: tusks, claws, terrible jaws, eyes orange, tongue black, purple prickles on its back. When the gruffalo suddenly materializes out of the mouse's head and into the forest, the mouse has to think quick, declaring himself inedible as the "scariest creature in the deep dark wood," and inviting the gruffalo to follow him to witness the effect he has on the other creatures. When the gruffalo hears that the mouse's favorite food is gruffalo crumble, he runs away. It's a fairly innocuous tale, with twists that aren't sharp enough and treachery that has no punch. Scheffler's funny scenes prevent the suspense from culminating; all his creatures, predator and prey, are downright lovable. (Picture book. 3-6)