The Night Is Like an Animal (Sunburst Book) - Softcover

PreSchool-Grade 2-An original poem using an unnamed animal as a metaphor for night. The friendly, slightly goofy-looking quadruped pictured in the torn-paper collages is large and furry, but certainly not scary. It first eats day, sipping at the Milky Way, and then covers half of the earth with its black silky paws until it slips away at dawn. The verse is unexceptional, but it is pleasant, and children will be able to write similar poems, which should make the book useful in the classroom. The illustrations are simple and colorful, again the kind of art children can replicate. A sweet, additional bedtime story.
Rosanne Cerny, Queens Borough Public Library, NY
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Ages 3^-6. Whitman's bedtime poem, which uses a furry brown animal as a metaphor for night, paints a magical picture of a secret nighttime world that begins with dusk and ends with dawn. In between, Night quenches its thirst by lapping milk from the Milky Way and nestles itself around sleeping children's dreams, ensuring "their rest is sweet and long and deep." Rich colors flow together in the exquisite paintings to create soft, fuzzy shapes that perfectly complement the gentle rhyming text. Although the book is primarily for younger children, teachers can easily use it to illustrate abstract concepts, such as metaphors and personification, to older youngsters. Lauren Peterson