Evening approaches, and children put away their toys and get ready for bed. As they prepare for sleep, they see lights through their windownot just the moon and stars, but sparkles of light, / glowing golden / and bright,...
Evening approaches, and children put away their toys and get ready for bed. As they prepare for sleep, they see lights through their windownot just the moon and stars, but sparkles of light, / glowing golden / and bright, / as fireflies flicker / and twirl in the night! These arent the only nocturnal visitors: The poems narrator also describes luna moths, frogs, songbirds at night, crickets, and other humming insects. After reading storybooks and getting tucked into bed, the kids listen to creature soundsa lullaby that ushers them off to sleep. An authors note describes this book as having started as an art project, and Weiss acrylic-on-canvas paintings are absolutely an eye-catching draw. Her stylized, full-color images give even realistic settings a magical, whimsical feel, whether they feature curvy houses with conical roofs, a tricycle that looks meant for fairies to ride, or an hourglass-shaped cat with a spiral tail looking out a nighttime window. Weiss makes great use of the musical concept, putting fireflies directly onto a musical staff on the front and end pages. In one starry two-page spread, musical notes float in the night sky, forming treble and bass clef symbols in a wispy mist. On the final page, notes dance across the grass and river, while trees seem to sway rhythmically in the background. The bold, bright colors depicted in the beginning pages sunset are soon replaced by pages dominated with blues and purples, but they never feel dreary; while the deeper hues offer a sleepy feel, its too dreamlike to ever be dull. The poetry flows beautifully, as well, its scansion as steady and calming as the lullaby it mimics. The soothing tempo seems perfectly designed for lap readers listening as an adult rocks them to the beat of the poems music. Some of the more challenging vocabulary words (nocturnal, symphony) are defined for independent readers in a short glossary.