A young child and their cat venture out of the house. Beautiful illustrations follow them through the night. They progressively get lighter as they approach the dawn. A stunningly beautiful book full of prose.

Classroom applications - literature and writing, A prompt perhaps of what you would see at night? ( )

This book would be good for primary-aged readers to listen to. It's about a boy who wakes up in the middle of the night with his cat and watches the sun come up. I didn't really like the illustrations in this story since they were in a unique colorless style so that may be a problematic aspect if someone were trying to teach it to younger kids since it may not be as engaging. ( )

This review was published by The Children's Book and Media Review run by Brigham Young University.

Everyone is sleeping, but that doesn’t mean that there is a world of activity going on during the night. Sylvie the cat wakes up the boy to go out, so the two go through the house in the quiet night. The house seems like a different place at night, but outside Sylvie has something to show the boy. In the night world, there are shadows of plants and animals that seems different than they do in the day. Animals gather so that they can also experience the world of the sun coming up.

The illustrations of this book are the true joy of the story. The illustrations start out very dark and shadowy, making the reader feel like it is night no matter what time of day they are reading the story. The animals and plants are drawn mostly with simple outlines to emphasize the shadowy nature, and then slowly more color is added as the sun rises in the story and the world wakes up again. This beautiful book could be good for helping a child who is afraid of the dark, but anyone will enjoy admiring the unique illustrations. ( )

Oh, Mordecai Gerstein, could I possibly love your work any more? A simple beginning leads to growing anticipation as a boy and his cat wait for dawn. When it finally comes, it's like arriving in Oz itself. For your own good, don't flip ahead to the last pages until you read your way there. ( )

PJ Library

Sylvie the cat wakes a bedheaded child, luring them outside: "It's coming...It's almost here. Hurry!" Outside the house, "The dark is soft and comfortable. This is the night world. There are shadows everywhere." Nocturnal animals change places with diurnal ones as night changes to day. "Good morning, everyone! It's going to be a beautiful day!"

Like The Giver, the story starts out in grayscale, but lightens gradually as night fades into morning, and finally explodes into color with the sunrise.

Illustrations in acrylic, pen and ink, and colored pencil on Strathmore gray Artagain paper. ( )