Review by Booklist Review
A dreamy, fantastical world awaits a group of children who are drifting off to sleep. The young bedtime voyagers float on a gentle breeze to another realm. Greeted by the smiling, purring Night Tiger and her cubs, they "tumble down a mountain carpeted in night blossoms." Silver ships in the shape of mythological creatures transport the wayfarers across a moonlit sea. The brief, lyrical text offers a beguiling invitation to imagination: leaping merfolk ask, "Are you joyful?" as the waving Night Walrus wonders, "Do you feel the music?" Once the children arrive at the Night Elephant's North Pole pavilion--the apex of their journey--Night Frolic festivities commence with exuberant song and dance. In a satisfying decrescendo, the Old Serpent reminds the revelers it's time to sleep. Zollars' graphite and digitally colored illustrations, in luminous shades of pink, purple, and blue, are full of opulent details and swirling, kaleidoscopic movements. Downright magical, this is a picture book made for dreamers.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
"Where do children go when they drift off to sleep?" This beckoning, otherworldly flight of fancy by Berry (Cranky Right Now) imagines a velvety realm to which children are carried "in silver ships over ribbons of moonlight," sailing amid merfolk and through polar lands. After encountering the Night Tiger and her cubs, the Moon, and the Night Walrus, the kids arrive at a North Pole pavilion where the Night Elephant issues greetings and the Great Frolic begins. Holding musical instruments of all kinds, a dancing, winding throng of children and creatures spills out into the open, "sailing, soaring, somersaulting," until "the Old Serpent that encircles the world" wakes, smiles, and reminds them to sleep, and a warm breeze sends the children "into their soft beds." Zollars (The Truth About Dragons) illustrates the drift of dreamy, querying prose with candy-tinted, digitally colored art, portraying the assembled, gape-mouthed whirlwind of children with a variety of skin tones. Berry's mesmerizing prose sounds like a saga from another world, and this vision of journey, adventure, and happy clamor offers both antidote to and fodder for sleep's dark mysteries. Ages 4--8. Author's agent: Alyssa Eisner Henkin, Trident Media. Illustrator's agent: Stephen Barr, Writers House. (Feb.)
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Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 1--3--Unnamed siblings, a boy and a girl with brown skin and dark curly brown hair, take an imaginative journey as they tour a world inhabited by spectacular creatures inviting them into the fantastical world of sleep. Through the course of their night adventures the children encounter a welcoming tiger, enormous walrus, cheerful elephant, and old serpent. Silver ships transport them to various locations where they are joined by mythical creatures and a diverse group of happy children. They all converge, forming a large and loud parade, singing and playing musical instruments. Finally, a dolphin takes them home where they are tucked into bed. In the morning they are greeted by the enormous serpent looking into their window who poses the question, "Are you ready?" This open-ended resolution could be interpreted many ways and could lead to a stimulating discussion. The poetic text, full of rich vocabulary, seems meant to be read out loud. However, it lacks many of the elements of good storytelling. While there is a theme of sorts, both a plot and character development are nonexistent; the children's mouths are mostly agape when they are awake, and closed when they sleep. The otherwise breathtaking illustrations, created with graphite on vellum bristol paper and colored digitally, are detailed and invite thoughtful inspection. A comparison to Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are is obvious, although some of the darker images carry a Dante's "Inferno" vibe as well, which seems counterproductive in a bedtime book. VERDICT Whether for sleepy time or not, this is an additional purchase.--Lynne Stover
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
A fantasy answering the question of where kids go when they sleep. Pajama-clad children ride ribbons of wispy night breezes to the "high den of the Night Tiger," a large, Cheshire cat--like creature (who has proportions more akin to a plump house cat than a threatening tiger), before beginning their journey through the night world. The Night Tiger is just the first of the fantastical, oversized animals--who have rounded bodies and luminescent eyes--with which the sleeping children dance and play across full-page spreads in twilight and jewel tones. Finally, at the height of the merriment, the frolic wakes "the Old Serpent that encircles the world," who gently sends the children and creatures alike to bed, so as to wake them again in the golden morning. Readers will enjoy spotting the protagonists' little white dog in the scenes. Spare text allows illustrations to take center stage. The high level of detail begs readers to study each image. Although sometimes crowded with characters, the art is composed with sizes and proportions in mind, using spacing to maintain clarity, and an awareness of the book's gutter so as to make sure no delicious detail is lost. The many children depicted are diverse, pajamas helping to identify reoccurring children; the characters most closely followed have brown skin and brown curls. (This book was reviewed digitally.) A dream come true for readers seeking a new bedtime story. (Picture book. 4-9) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
