Bella Noche! Hello, Moon by Julie Downing

GOODBYE, SUN.

The shadows grow long. Sleepy butterflies cling to the underside of leaves. Song birds flit to their nests.

DAY IS DONE.

The animals sense the change, Squirrels seek their dens. Snails creep under fallen leaves. The dog dashes for the open farmhouse door to sleep inside.

But the night animals are ready to go on duty.

MOONLIGHT CALLS. COME OUTSIDE.

Foxes pounce for a burrowing mouse. Owls fly on silent wings. Raccoons chitter when they find fruit with savory seeds. Bugs chomp on juicy leaves, while mice scurry at the shadow of a cruising owl. Baby foxes scamper to the shelter of their den at the flash of lightning and crash of thunder. It's time for these nocturnal creatures to hurry home and catch a catnap before first light.

HELLO DAY! GOODNIGHT, NIGHT!

And as the now wide-awake dog dashes out the open back door, the day begins again with opening morning glories all around, in Julie Downing's just published Hello, Moon (Holiday House, 2021), a hymn for the night and a song for the new day.

In pages wreathed by maple leaves of many colors--yellow green, bright green, and blue-green for the day and lilac, mauve, and deep green for the night, woodland places with the beautiful shapes of vines, toadstools and clover in all kinds of light, author-illustrator Downing marries her gorgeous colored pencil watercolor and acrylic artwork and the rhythm and rhyme of gentle poetry in a lovely tribute to day and night. As Kirkus Reviews advises, "Whether read as Zen nature walk, bedtime story, or gentle science starter, this story begs to be visited again and again."

What's Roamin' in the Gloamin'? Peppa Pig: Night Creatures by Neville Astley

Peppa and George were having a sleepover at Grammy and Grandpa Pig's house.

As it grows dark, Grandpa heads out to look for slugs on the plants in his garden. He tells Peppa and George that the slugs only come out at night, and the two begin to wonder what other critters roam only in the dark. Grandpa is only too happy to hold forth on the subject.

"Some are asleep all day and awake mostly at night. In fact, there's one night creature up in this tree.

HOOT!

Peppa and George's own eyes get almost as big as the owl's when they point their flashlight at those glowing eyes up in that tree, in Neville Astley's latest Peppa book, Night Creatures: A Lift-the-Flap Book (Peppa Pig) (Scholastic, 2018). And that's just the beginning in this light-the-night, lift-the-flap book with surprising creatures of the night under each flap and a tiny flashlight on the cover to add to the fun. Bats and hedgehogs are soon spotted, and Peppa and George are amazed at all the awesome animals to be seen, until Grandpa points out that, unlike these creatures, they can't stay awake all night, and Grandma Pig points them toward their own bedtime.

Fans of the Peppa Pig television program will enjoy discovering the varieties of night life under the sturdy flaps with the toy flashlight and will perhaps want to follow up with more night animals, as in Lizi Boyd's award-winning Flashlight (read review here) and Divya Srinivason's Little Owl's Night, see review here.)

A Diller, A Dollar, A Midnight Scholar: Mouse's First Night at Moonlight School by Simon Puttock

THE NIGHT BELL WAS ABOUT TO RING AT MISS MOON'S MOONLIGHT SCHOOL, AND BAT AND CAT AND OWL WERE ALL ON THEIR WAY.

BUT SOMEBODY WAS MISSING....

Mouse is, well, as timid as a mouse, but she's not tardy. She's already inside Miss Moon's schoolroom, but she's shy and already concealed behind a curtain. Miss Moon calls the roll and catches the whispered sound of Mouse's "Here!" from her hiding place.

Kindly but witchy Miss Moon comes up with a break-the-ice game to suit all her students--hide-and-seek. It's just right for bat, who can echo-locate anyone; it's calming for cat, who is curious about the darkest corners, and it's a natural for Owl, who wisely chooses to perch behind a book in the bookcase.

But where is Mouse?

"MOUSE IS REALLY GOOD AT HIDING!" SAID MISS MOON.

"OH, DEAR! MOUSE'S MOTHER WILL BE UPSET...."

"TEE HEE!" GIGGLED MOUSE.

Mouse emerges, a proud winner of the game, from inside Miss Moon's tall black hat, and her first day, er, night fears are gone, in Simon Puttock's Mouse's First Night at Moonlight School (Nosy Crow Books, 2015). Feeling nervous on the first day of school is a common problem, even for creatures of the night, and Puttock's gentle text has the right tone for those students who just wish they could just be invisible on opening day. Ali Pye's nocturnal palette of grays and deep blues, accented by the yellow glow of lanterns and the full moon give this story a late-night setting that is barely scary and mostly cozy for her nighttime scholars.