Beary Scary! The Night Bear by Ana and Thiago de Moraes

Do bears in the night bring scares in the night?
Nightmares in the night? Frights in the night?
No. Quite the contrary.

At night, when it's dark and quiet,
the Night Bear hops onto a night bus
and sets off to find his dinner.
Tonight he is in luck.
Lots of children have left nightmares out.
And nightmares are the Night Bear's favorite food.

Monsters with hideous eyes
taste like burgers and fries.

Nobody likes nightmares. Nobody likes sleepytime scares. Except for--the Night Bears.

There is a nightmare for every Night Bear's craving. Storms that crash taste like sausage and mash, and pirates that are mean taste of strawberries and cream.

But then the Night Bear finds a different sort of dream in the trash bin. It is unicorns soaring on rainbows, and they are--

DISGUSTING!

BLEEEACH! But the Night Bear hates to waste any dream, however unsavory it may seem. So he trudges through the dark street looking for whomever might have tossed such a thing out, until he spots little Tom in his window. He is pleased to receive the icky unicorns and rainbow dream. And he returns the favor with a box holding a dream he finds most unsavory.

Spiders and a giant snake.
They taste like chocolate cake!

So, as the Night Bear boards the Night Bus, his work here done, Tom toddles off to sweet dreams witj rainbow and unicorn scenes.

Sweet dreams, goodnight.
Hope the Night Bear comes tonight!

We may not know where nightmares come from, but now we know where they go, in Ana de Moraes whimsical tale of bad dreams and good bears, The Night Bear (Anderson Press, 2019). Author de Moraes keeps the charming rhymes coming, as artist Thiago de Moraes provides the burly but benevolent bears and quaint old-fashioned streets of the dark town that make this story unique.

For more rhyming nightmare snacks, the creators of this picture book offer back endpapers bursting with such nightmare tidbits as "a scary yeti who tastes like spaghetti," "slithering snakes like chocolate pancakes," and "banshees that scream who taste like custard cream." and front endpapers that show how to make a special box in which to leave a ghastly treat for your very own Night Bear.

"Vampires that play taste like creme brulee? YUM!" says Booklist's starred review.

Wrong (Page) Turn! We're in the Wrong Book! by Richard Byrne

BELLA AND BEN WERE JUMPING DOWN THE STREET FROM ONE SIDE OF THE BOOK TO THE OTHER.

The two book-loving buddies, Bella and Ben, are back in another bibliographic adventure when Bella's big shaggy dog bounces right into their sack race and bumps them right out of the book, page right!

"WHERE'S MY DOG?" SAID BELLA.

There's nothing left to do but jump back, right into the gutter (not the one between sidewalk and street, but the one between the pages of the book) and look for him.But the two buddies seem to have bounced into a wholly different book--a counting book, complete with ten lollipops, nine pencils...

"WE'RE IN THE WRONG BOOK!" SAID BEN.

Bella and Ben don't have time for the countdown and exit page right again--to find themselves in a cat-and-mouse comic book chase. Clearly, they've lost their place!

The mouse pauses and suggests they find a library professional who knows where their own book is shelved, but apparently the lovely librarian comes up with the wrong Dewey Decimal number and Ben and Bella find themselves in a travel book about Egypt, staring into the inscrutable eyes of the Sphinx! Bella tries to decipher the hieroglyphics on the wall (Walk like an Egyptian!)

This story is becoming a real page turner, as the two kids flip through a twisty maze puzzle page, dodge the Big Bad Wolf, hitch a ride on a hot-air balloon, and race down a dark tunnel, in Richard Byrne's latest, We're in the wrong book! (Henry Holt, 2016), but when they've tried all the genres they can take for one day, they poke through the page to find Bella's dog waiting, looking as if he wants to say, "What took you so long?"

In an unusual tour of literary forms, author-illustrator Richard Byrne has a new metafiction outing waiting for his young readers, especially those who have enjoyed his earlier books, This book just ate my dog! and This book is out of control! These between-the-cover adventures make good selections for Book Week storytime activities.

Moon in My Backyard: Moonday by Adam Rex

THE MOON HUNG FULL AND LOW.

AND TOUCHED THE TOP OF TREES.

WE WHISPERED WORDS LIKE BIG AND BEAUTIFUL.

THROUGH THE BACKSEAT WINDOW I FOLLOWED ITS LIGHT.

THEN I DRIFTED TO SLEEP....

In a dreamlike sequence, a sleeping child is carried to bed and wakes the next morning to find the moon, which had seemed to follow the family car on their nighttime drive, waiting in her backyard, huge and glowing.

In her robe and slippers Mom peers out, a bit perplexed, coffee cup in hand, from the back porch. Dad gives the girl a boost up. She stands in a small moon crater for a moment.

"I'M GOING TO HAVE A LOOK AROUND."

"OKAY," SAID MOM. "ZIP UP YOUR COAT."

The whole town finds that the moon has filled the day with it pale white light. At school Ms. Ellen, sleepy but still game, seizes the teachable moment to do a science lesson on the moon, looming outside the windows, but by math time the teacher gives in to the urge and takes a snooze, drowsily dismissing class first.

Everyone in town is yawning through the daylight-less day, until someone notices a consequence that really dampens their spirits. The tide is coming in--and in and in--into the town, down the streets, and turning the backyard into a lake.

"I COULD DO WITHOUT IT," SAID MOM.

Something must be done. Finally the girl has a thought.

"MAYBE WE COULD TAKE IT FOR A DRIVE."

Everyone remembers that moment when as a child we noticed that the moon followed us as we drove through the night, but only author-illustrator Adam Rex would come up with a gorgeous picture book with the answer to the question: "What would happen if the moon followed me home?" in his latest, Moonday (Hyperion, 2013).

In contrast to a dreamlike sequence of lovely images lighted by this persistent but beautiful moon, Rex provides plenty of visual humor--the teacher drowsing off, her head on her desk, the teenage garage band banging out heavy-metal lullabies, the family trying to dim the backyard moon by draping it with tablecloths and blankets so they can sleep, the dogs howling hoarsely at the never-setting moon, and Mom lamenting the loss of her favorite tablecloth after the family drives the moon back to its original spot above the hill.

Young readers will giggle and then ask, "Was it all a dream?" Publishers Weekly likens Rex's artwork to one of Edward Hopper's nightscapes and says, "It’s a suggestive account of the movements of the dreaming mind, and a gentle departure from Rex’s more madcap work."