The Night Walk
LOVELY BEDTIME BOOK
Mama opened our bedroom door. Wake up, you two, she whispered. Let’s go, so we get there on time. Excited, the sleepy family step outside into a beautiful summer night. The world is quiet and shadowy, filled with fresh smells and amazing sights. Is this what they miss when they’re asleep? Together, they walk out of their sleeping village. What will they find in the dark landscape?
The family of four—two parents and two children—takes a blissful summer night walk into the countryside that gives way to a breathless conclusion in this picture book by Dorléans.
Narrated by one of the children, the prose shines with sensory acuity as the family leaves a village behind them with a particular location in mind. “We left the road, and the path climbed gently out of the valley. A train sliced through the darkness,” one page reads as the family overlooks a landscape of fastidiously needled trees against a star-studded sky.
Navy washes overlay graphite pencil and digital illustrations, with fine-lined detail so startlingly observed that readers will feel immersed in each expansive spread. Suspense builds as sparse beams of light illuminate the darkness page by page and each spread carries the family forward through the night. A graceful, perfectly paced appreciation of nature.
This beautiful and evocative book movingly recalls family trips and the excitement of unknown adventure, while celebrating the awe-inspiring joy of the natural world.
🥇 AWARDS AND ACCOLADES
Best Illustrated Children’s Book Award by New York Book Review
DETAILS
- The Night Walk
- Written by Marie Dorléans.
- Published by Floris Books, Scotland; April 20, 2021.
- Ages 3 to 7 years
- 0.4″ H x 10.5″ L x 7.8″ W (0.85 lbs) 32 pages
- Hardcover
