mehsi's review
4.0
An adorable book perfect for the hot summer nights that are soon coming (at least here).
It is a hot summery night and our little girl cannot sleep. Everyone else in her home is fast asleep but she is melting out of her bed. She concocts a brilliant idea, something I wish I could have done when I was her age, but alas most houses here don't have a rooftop like hers (or are accessible like hers). Otherwise I would have definitely camped out a few times. :P
I loved how the girl first waited until her parents and siblings slept, and then went to follow the cool breeze. How she kept getting more and more stuff for her "bed" up there. From blankets to pillows. Everything went with her to her makeshift bed. Oh, and the cat also had to come with the girl. Kitty also wants some coolness.
Of course mom notices (moms have that uncanny sense of waking up when kids are up to something), and at first I was worried that she may make the girl clean up again, but no, she doesn't. What she does is totally sweet and I loved it. I am guessing that in the morning the girl will get a bit of a talk about doing this, but I am sure that mom isn't angry (just potentially worried because there isn't a fence around the roof).
The art is quite pretty and nicely done. I especially loved seeing the view of the city when the girl got to the rooftop.
All in all, a cute picture book that will be very relatable and great for those summer nights when it is too warm to sleep.
Review first posted at https://twirlingbookprincess.com/
It is a hot summery night and our little girl cannot sleep. Everyone else in her home is fast asleep but she is melting out of her bed. She concocts a brilliant idea, something I wish I could have done when I was her age, but alas most houses here don't have a rooftop like hers (or are accessible like hers). Otherwise I would have definitely camped out a few times. :P
I loved how the girl first waited until her parents and siblings slept, and then went to follow the cool breeze. How she kept getting more and more stuff for her "bed" up there. From blankets to pillows. Everything went with her to her makeshift bed. Oh, and the cat also had to come with the girl. Kitty also wants some coolness.
Of course mom notices (moms have that uncanny sense of waking up when kids are up to something), and at first I was worried that she may make the girl clean up again, but no, she doesn't. What she does is totally sweet and I loved it. I am guessing that in the morning the girl will get a bit of a talk about doing this, but I am sure that mom isn't angry (just potentially worried because there isn't a fence around the roof).
The art is quite pretty and nicely done. I especially loved seeing the view of the city when the girl got to the rooftop.
All in all, a cute picture book that will be very relatable and great for those summer nights when it is too warm to sleep.
Review first posted at https://twirlingbookprincess.com/
jessalynn_librarian's review against another edition
4.0
Picture book
Winner of 2008 Boston Globe Horn Book Award
For preschool & up
A young girl can't fall asleep one night, and a breeze lures her onto the city rooftop.
A city night has rarely seemed so gentle as comforting as in this story, and it's enough to make you wish for your own rooftop to escape to on a sleepless night. The text is simple and rhythmic, perfectly complementing the soft but focused illustrations. Although the words and pictures tell the girl's story, there's another story happening only in the pictures. As the girl makes trips up the stairs with her pillows, then a sheet, and finally her blanket, we see the view from her parents' bedroom, where her mother wakes up and follows her up the stairs. This safe, quiet presence lends an extra sense of calm to this bedtime story, especially as the last page leaves us with the girl, asleep at last on the roof overlooking the city, with the full moon shining down on the now wide-awake mother. The book's small format adds to this sense of coziness, but there's also a sense of expansiveness and space with occasional bird's eye views and cityscapes. Another delight is that it doesn't use the standard bedtime plot of a child who doesn't want to go to bed; this is a child who can't sleep, and who resourcefully solves her problem with the help of a small breeze. This would work well for a family story or an evening story time with a small group, due to the size of the illustrations.
The School Library Journal uses most of the review space to summarize the action, spending only a few words assessing the illustrations and none on the text. Kirkus has an evocative review that summarizes the plot while still giving ample attention to illustrations and text, although it focuses on a few details that felt irrelevant, such as hair color.
Winner of 2008 Boston Globe Horn Book Award
For preschool & up
A young girl can't fall asleep one night, and a breeze lures her onto the city rooftop.
A city night has rarely seemed so gentle as comforting as in this story, and it's enough to make you wish for your own rooftop to escape to on a sleepless night. The text is simple and rhythmic, perfectly complementing the soft but focused illustrations. Although the words and pictures tell the girl's story, there's another story happening only in the pictures. As the girl makes trips up the stairs with her pillows, then a sheet, and finally her blanket, we see the view from her parents' bedroom, where her mother wakes up and follows her up the stairs. This safe, quiet presence lends an extra sense of calm to this bedtime story, especially as the last page leaves us with the girl, asleep at last on the roof overlooking the city, with the full moon shining down on the now wide-awake mother. The book's small format adds to this sense of coziness, but there's also a sense of expansiveness and space with occasional bird's eye views and cityscapes. Another delight is that it doesn't use the standard bedtime plot of a child who doesn't want to go to bed; this is a child who can't sleep, and who resourcefully solves her problem with the help of a small breeze. This would work well for a family story or an evening story time with a small group, due to the size of the illustrations.
The School Library Journal uses most of the review space to summarize the action, spending only a few words assessing the illustrations and none on the text. Kirkus has an evocative review that summarizes the plot while still giving ample attention to illustrations and text, although it focuses on a few details that felt irrelevant, such as hair color.
backonthealex's review against another edition
4.0
One night, after everyone in her house is asleep, a young girl just can't get to sleep. Then, she feels a breeze in her room, takes her pillow and blanket and heads to the roof of her building, where she makes a cozy place to sleep in one of the chairs there. Not to worry, her mom isn't asleep either and shadows her daughter the whole way.
bkwrm127's review against another edition
5.0
Out of the many, many bedtime books available for children, this is one of the rare ones I loved. A little girl, awake in her apartment building after all the family is asleep is tempted by a breeze to the roof, where she makes a bed and finally, falls asleep. The illustrations show her mom waking up and watching over her journey up the stairs without interfering. She sits with a cup of coffee in her hand watching the moon while her child sleeps. The book is the perfect size for small hands. The detailed illustrations perfectly complement the text. This is a must have!
callybacon's review against another edition
4.0
Title: At Night
Author: Jonathan Bean
Publisher and Year: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2007
Genre: Fiction
Ages: 4 - 7
Synopsis: This book is about a little girl who cannot sleep. Her brother and sister have been put to bed, and her parents are asleep as well, but she cannot fall asleep. She feels a breeze coming from a door (irresponsibly left open, if you ask me) leading to the roof of the house, and decides to follow it with her pillow and blanket in hand. Although not addressed in the text, the illustrations show her mother noticing her daughter escaping outside, and she follows her to make sure she's safe. The little girl gets cozy on the roof, contemplates the sky for a while and how wide the world is, and falls asleep under her mother's watchful eye.
Reaction? My favorite part of this book was the illustrations and formatting of the pages. I liked how it started with picture, text, picture text, then changed to a full page illustration facing a page of text, and then changed into a two-page spread with text inside the illustration. I thought it added a level of complexity as well that the mother's role in the story was not mentioned in the text.
Author: Jonathan Bean
Publisher and Year: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2007
Genre: Fiction
Ages: 4 - 7
Synopsis: This book is about a little girl who cannot sleep. Her brother and sister have been put to bed, and her parents are asleep as well, but she cannot fall asleep. She feels a breeze coming from a door (irresponsibly left open, if you ask me) leading to the roof of the house, and decides to follow it with her pillow and blanket in hand. Although not addressed in the text, the illustrations show her mother noticing her daughter escaping outside, and she follows her to make sure she's safe. The little girl gets cozy on the roof, contemplates the sky for a while and how wide the world is, and falls asleep under her mother's watchful eye.
Reaction? My favorite part of this book was the illustrations and formatting of the pages. I liked how it started with picture, text, picture text, then changed to a full page illustration facing a page of text, and then changed into a two-page spread with text inside the illustration. I thought it added a level of complexity as well that the mother's role in the story was not mentioned in the text.
cuocuo's review against another edition
5.0
This book is so calming that I felt a bit sleepy as I read it in bright sunshine. A good marriage of text and image.
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