This gentle bedtime storybook offers readers a glimpse inside a house, as a young child arrives home in the evening and gets ready for bed. The child reads a book; a bird flies from the pages. The child and the bird journey together, soaring over the quiet countryside. The nightingale sings of the starry night, drawing the peaceful dark across the landscape with its wings. Returning home, the child falls asleep secure in the light of her family’s love.
Swanson updates a traditional cumulative pattern nursery rhyme with sparse text that sets a quiet tone by naming things of the night – “Here is the key to the house. In the house burns a light. In that light rests a bed. On that bed waits a book.” In the story within a story, all life is envisioned as a connected community and the key to the home full of light is love.
The imagery of the gender-neutral child embarking on a journey of exploration and wonder before returning to the warmth and comfort of home is very reassuring and satisfying.
Krommes’ detailed scratchboard and watercolor illustrations depict peaceful interior and exterior landscapes, each containing intricate touches of gold light on every expansive double page spread. They perfectly capture the feel of the lyric text and elevate this picture book to award-winning literature status.
REVIEWS AND AWARDS
Booklist Starred review: “A beautiful piece of bookmaking that will delight both parents and children.”
Cooperative Children's Book Center Choices 2009: “lyrical text, which resonates with sounds and images to savor in a comforting yet surprising journey toward day’s end.”
Kirkus Reviews: “Krommes's breathtaking scratchboard illustrations, in black and white with accents of yellow and gold, embody and enhance the text's message.”
Publishers Weekly: Best Books of the Year, 2008
Randolph Caldecott Medal winner, 2009
CONNECTIONS
Scratchboard art projects and homemade cumulative verses are natural follow-up extensions of this picture book. Classroom students could participate in survey of bedtime practices and graph the results for a mathematical exercise. Young public library patrons could contribute to an interactive display of bedtime books by selecting their favorites.
Other books for children featuring cumulative tales:
Thompson, Lauren. 2007. THE APPLE PIE THAT PAPA BAKED. Ill. by Jonathan Bean. New York: Simon & Schuster.
Hoberman, Mary Ann. 1999. AND TO THINK THAT WE THOUGHT WE’D NEVER BE FRIENDS. Ill. by Kevin Hawkes. New York: Dell.
Ahlberg, Allan. 2008. THE BABY IN THE HAT. Ill. by Andre Amstutz. Cambridge: Candlewick.
Rosenberg, Liz. 2008. THIS IS THE WIND. Ill. by Renee Reichert. New York:Roaring Brook.
