Mother Night - Hardcover

PreSchool-Grade 2-- As in Frosted Glass (Bradbury, 1987), Cazet portrays a young daydreamer with humor and understanding. Maxine, an energetic but easily distracted young feline, is instructed by her parents to "Walk straight to school. Straight as an arrow." With an exclamation of "Twang" she is on her way, following their instructions literally. However, she soon finds herself caught up in climbing ladders, growling down manhole covers, and dancing with street performers before remembering her destination. Framed fragments of illustrations are overlapped and present a variety of perspectives which may therefore require the concentration of older, more sophisticated picture book perusers to follow Maxine accurately on her nearly wordless odyssey (all text is in dialogue balloons), but clever use of white space and careful design maintain the necessary structure to participate in her cheerful chaos. --Starr LaTronica, North Berkeley Library, Calif.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

When Mother Night comes "to shake her dark quilt / and let dreams tumble down," animal parents put their children to sleep. Mother Mouse sings to her children, and they dream of an orchestra of bewigged pigs and hippos; the fox children dream of riding their bucking bronco fourposter to save the ranch from a gigantic Mother Goose. The parents lovingly awaken their children when morning comes and the world is "edged in dawn." The antics of the animals are distinct from the world outside their windows, except during the dream sequences where the real and imagined worlds are joined. Inside their cozy houses, theywear bathrobes, drink tea and cuddle in easy chairs, but outside, Cazet's ( A Fish in His Pocket ) sensitive watercolors portray a world of serene beauty where stars dot the landscape like snow, and black ravens are silhouetted above the pines. Ages 3-6.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.