Jons Mellgren

In a very poetic way, Elsa and the Night tells the story of an extraordinary friendship. Can one make friends with the night? In this story, Elsa can! How, may you ask, could someone even meet the night? Well, one day Elsa is sitting at her kitchen table and, because she is bored, counting the raisins in her cereal. She then suddenly hears a sound coming from under the sofa. When she investigates and catches the thing making the noise, she realizes that it's neither an animal nor a ghost. It's the night. Because Elsa winds up hiding the night in her cookie jar--and giving it a few of her raisins--the day outside doesn't end. When she takes the night out of its hiding place, it has the chance to hear her talk about her adventures with her friend, an elephant named Olaf. Elsa tells the night that she is very sad because Olaf got sick and no medicine was able to help him. The night not only listens to Elsa, but also accompanies her on a heartwarming and moving journey where it cares for her, protects her, and finally carries her through the town in its arms.… (plus d'informations)

Right off the bat there's some interesting stuff going on. The book is slightly larger than most quality picture-books. There is no jacket; the front and back art and text are printed right on the boards. There is no endpaper art - which looks like a design choice, not a budget issue. The author is Swedish. Elsa is a badger. Elsa is an adult. The story is told in present tense.

And it's just a lovely book. Dramatic and soothing at the same time. I'm not sure kids would appreciate it, and even if they are charmed, they might not like it as a bedtime story. Then again, they might. The way the Night grows from kitten to city size, and the kind of surreal effect of day vs night, and sea voyages, and lighthouse, and elephant... all remind me a bit of Where the Wild Things Are. And that's a successful bedtime story that is both dramatic and soothing, so this might be successful, too. It is a little longer than that book.

I do want to see more by the author-illustrator, and I do recommend this to all of you (and I want to know what you think of it, too).… (plus d'informations)

Elsa spends her nights counting random things, and sipping coffee. One night, while counting her granola, she hears a scratching underneath her sofa, finding Night hiding away. Not wanting Night there, she hides it away it away in a tin box. She watches the city from her balcony, and with Night tucked away, the day goes on and on and on. Chaos ensues from lack of sleep, and finally Else retrieves Night from the box, finding it diminished and weak. She nurtures it with juice, and tells the story of her past travels on a ship called Ottelina, working as a cook. One night, a storm rolls through, leaving Elsa and an elephant stranded together. They live a happy life together, her and Olaf, fishing, caring for a lighthouse, and doing tricks for tourists. But Olaf gets sick, and after his passing she spent years alone in the light of the lighthouse, and can no longer sleep. Upon Night's return to the city, it begins tidying things up, and putting the people to sleep, Elsa included. She dreams of Olaf and sleeps contentedly.… (plus d'informations)