Light and Dark: Flashlight by Lizi Boyd

Before moonrise, a child can be seen, reading with a handlight inside a tent in the woods. It is very dark. But...

He has a flashlight. What a difference a little light can make.

In the spreading beam of his little light he ventures out to join the creatures of the night--mice nibbling on fallen strawberries, bats at work, a big-eyed owl, a sneaky skunk, two deer in his headlight, a big raccoon and then three little ones, fish in a pond, a beaver dam, and, where there's a beaver dam... there's a beaver.

As the rising moon slides higher in the sky, one little moth seems to be shadowing the boy as he steps lightly under the trees. The moth poses on a tree trunk for his moment in the limelight, while the animals trail him from the undergrowth. He turns back to his tent, and crawls inside, leaving the flashlight out there for the mice in the moonlight to hold for him while he finishes his bedtime story.

In her wordless new picture book, Flashlight (Chronicle Books, 2014), Lizi Boyd helps children appreciate the world of the summer night. Artist Boyd makes the most of the darkness, with a soft black background and figures done in gray line. With the added use of cutouts, the flashlight illuminates the colors of plants and animals on succeeding pages. A perfect die cut circle first highlights the moon, and as the pages turn, the die cuts foreshadow what the next page turn brings--flowers, mushrooms, and creatures peeping from their dens. There are plenty of discoveries on each page for young readers as our little nocturnal adventurer explores night in the woods. School Library Journal gives this one a starred review, as does Kirkus, who calls it "soothing and gently humorous."