Review by Booklist Review
White's lyrical paean to the dark celebrates the nighttime activities of a young family. "Gentle the evening. Sweeping the skies. / Dark the shadows as twilight arrives. // Rose the horizon, gleaming and bright. / Twilight and evening and dark on light." As the sun sets, three children grab flashlights and set out for an evening stroll. They note sage and garden stones, spy a doe and her fawn, smell lavender, and observe a silent owl. Eventually they return home for a story and drift off to sleep. Sala's watercolor, gouache, and colored-pencil illustrations perfectly capture the natural beauty and serenity that surround this rural household. The color palette evolves from twilight reds to evening blues and purples to inky nighttime blacks and grays; back home in their beds, the kids await the sunny yellows of a new day. Throughout, a full moon provides light and enhances the colors on the spreads. This makes a soothing bedtime read-aloud and a lilting celebration of the natural world.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
The creators of Green on Green follow that seasonal work with one focused on shadow and light, centering lulling, mesmerizing sensate verse accompanied by artwork in warm, saturated hues. At a house in a valley bathed in sunset colors, a family's dog sets off by itself. Three light-skinned, fair-haired children look out a window as the sun sets ("Rose the horizon, gleaming and bright./ Twilight and evening and dark on light"), then take a shadow-casting flashlight outside to search for the dog. They're not too worried; one child stops to sniff lavender blooms, while another pauses beneath the moon. They surprise an owl, find the dog, then revel in the sight of enormous trees stretching up to the stars ("Damp the moss. Ancient the sky./ Dark the leaves, crisp and dry"). Light from the house spills onto the porch as the three return, and closing bedtime scenes in a shared bedroom embody warmth and security ("Cozy the blanket. Pillowed the head./ Dark the attic. Snug the bed") in this quiet celebration of chiaroscuro in the natural world. Ages 3--8. (Dec.)
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Review by School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 3--Using only poetic couplets which tend to end with the phase "dark on light," White's text is the distillation of the journey that Sala depicts of a trio of children with flashlights ablaze who go into the woods at dusk to track down their dog. Sala portrays the three pale-skinned children frolicking along a trail from home through a meadow and woods searching for their dog while enjoying nature. When they find the pup, they all happily trek back home to awaiting parents, who lovingly put them to bed. Searching for the dog and delighting in the nature around them are given equal attention. White's wonderful lines giving the essence of the children's trip ("Inviting the trail. Timid the fawn. Dark the hedge that borders the lawn) are brought into focus by the accompanying illustrations. Sala's illustrations in watercolors, gouache, and colored pencils have a detail, depth, and color that embody the text while fleshing out the story into a comprehensive whole. VERDICT Text and artwork beautifully in tandem to tell of a successful search and to evoke the feelings of joy that nature can stir. The book works on many levels and would make a good addition to most libraries.--Catherine Callegari
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Review by Horn Book Review
"Gentle the evening. Sweeping the skies. / Dark the shadows as twilight arrives. / Rose the horizon, gleaming and bright. / Twilight and evening and dark on light." The author-illustrator team behind Green on Green (rev. 5/20) returns with another paean to benevolent nature. As the sun sets on a house surrounded by idyllic countryside, three children head outside into the deepening night -- passing deer, smelling lavender, catching sight of an owl in flight -- all the while (as observant viewers will have noted) searching for their errant dog. Happily reunited, all return home to be greeted by two loving adults who wrap them in warmth, read them stories, and tuck them in for the night. The text consists of a series of lyrical quatrains, almost mesmerizing in their effect, the last line of each always incorporating two words from the previous lines plus "and dark on light." Sala has outdone herself here, with her glorious watercolor, gouache, and colored-pencil art lending both structure (the quest story) and atmosphere. Double-page spreads begin with apricots and roses and then deepen into dark blues and purples, with the white of the moonlight, the children's flashlight, and the silvered trees and the warm tones of the children's clothing providing contrast. An exemplary, revelatory bedtime book. Martha V. ParravanoJanuary/February 2023 p.70 (c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A bedtime chant capable of transforming anyone into a night owl. Sumptuous watercolor, gouache, and colored pencil illustrations show a day shifting from sunshine to twilight to a deepening night sky. Meanwhile, three children are pulling on their boots, grabbing their flashlights, and heading out into a nighttime world as alive as it is welcoming. As the children search and explore, the text repeats the words dark on light through mesmeric rhymes. "Orange the moon, burnished and bright. / Meadow and owl and dark on light." At last the children peek into a burrow and find their dog, the object of their search. The nighttime is welcoming here, and the children return home to the cozy arms of their parents. Truly the entire enterprise feels similar in tone to Janice May Udry's Moon Jumpers (1959), illustrated by Maurice Sendak, as when the children ramble through fields of fragrant lavender beneath a brilliant sky. This is a book capable of banishing nighttime fears, showing the night to be a time of wonder, exploration, and even comfort. Sala's art matches the cadences of the text beat for beat, offering consistently beautiful images of this undiscovered nighttime world. The children and their parents present as White. (This book was reviewed digitally.) Lilting, haunting, rhyming, and as unforgettable as a dream the daylight just can't quite erase. (Picture book. 3-5) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
