Sleepy-time Musings: Just Because by Mac Barnett.

WHY IS THE SKY BLUE?

WHY DO TREES CHANGE COLORS?

WHAT ARE BLACK HOLES? THE MOUTHS OF DINOSAURS?

It's bedtime, that time when kids suddenly remember they have forgotten to do their math, or they have to bring five purple things to school tomorrow, or that they need six photos of their grandparents for the class bulletin board.

Or sometimes, bedtime brings out a heretofore hidden scientific or philosophical thirst for the secrets of the universe.

Our girl is all settled in her bed, puppy, PJs,  and all, but she can't sleep without the answer to some unfortunately complex questions.  Dad, waiting at her bedroom door, insists it's time to go to sleep--which reminds her that she has a burning desire to know why people have to sleep at night.

"BECAUSE," SAYS DAD, "THERE ARE SOME THINGS WE CAN ONLY SEE WHEN OUR EYES ARE CLOSED."

In Mac Barnett's and Isabelle Arsonault's Just Because (Candlewick Press, 2019), some tantalizing stalling questions are posed, but left on the back burner until another day (or bedtime). Done in luminous guache, pencil and watercolors, artist, Isabelle Arsenault provides a slightly retro Fifties' look to her drawings, alternating with lovely, dreamlike  portrayals of the girl's wondrous reveries. Barnett (The Important Thing About Margaret Wise Brown) offers a comic look at that famous childhood bedtime-delaying tactic, the difficult question... Arsenault’s imaginative power enhances a thin, nevertheless enjoyable, text" says Publishers Weekly.

Mac Barnett's award-winning collaborations with artist Jon Claasen are Triangle (Shape Trilogy), Square (Shape Trilogy), Circle, Sam and Dave Dig a Hole (Irma S and James H Black Award for Excellence in Children's Literature (Awards)) This Is Not My Hat,  I Want My Hat Back. and We Found a Hat. (see more books by Mac Barnett reviewed here.)