The Buried Moon

 This morning's moon was large and luminous hiding behind the clouds before it set.  I always love moon books. 

The Buried Moon 

Joseph Jacobs

pictures by Susan Jeffers 1969

Susan Jeffers' drawings are dark and mysterious in this tale about how the moon gets caught and buried so that all the boggles and horrors of the darkness can have their way in the night.  This old story comes from Joseph Jacobs' More English Fairy Tales from 1893.

Come to the Window

Just a lovely illustration by Sharon Kane (from the Little Golden Book Counting Rhymes 1972).

What's in the Dark

What's in the Dark

Carl Memling

pictures by John E. Johnson 1971

 If you have a little one ready for bed, this might be just the book to get them to sleep.  Here the dark is not scary or ominous, it just is the dark.  And here are all the things that are in the dark, like, "The pants you wore today, your shoes, your socks, your T-shirt"  or "Your crayons in a jumbled pile, the new ones, used ones, broken ones- they're in the dark."

"In the dark" is the repetitive refrain and it lends a soft, soothing, almost lullaby-like quality to the text.  I could see this being read with a low and quiet voice while children snuggle under their covers and look at the deep blues and teals and purples of the illustrations. 

Love these 70's endpages!

I just love this artwork!

Barn Dance!

This one is a good option if you are looking for books that aren't Halloween, but still invoke the season.

 Barn Dance!

Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault

illustrated by Ted Rand 1986

The farmer's son "with questions in his head, much too full of wonderment to spend the night in bed, He was up about an' list'nin'..."

When the night owl said, 

Come a little closer...

Come a little closer...

Listen to the night...

There's magic in the air...

There's magic in the air indeed!  The scarecrow "with a fiddle underneath his chin" has called up all the farmyard animals to a right proper barn dance.  Not only does the farmer's son watch all the turkeys and mules and pigs dancing round, he becomes part of the hoedown himself!  The rhyming text is fun to read aloud and Rand's colorful barn dance pictures contrast with the quiet moonlight shadows outside.

Alfi and the Dark

Alfi and the Dark

Sally Miles

pictures by Errol Le Cain

 Somehow Sally Miles manages to tell a story about the Dark that is both curious and comforting.  Alfi, not afraid of the Dark, wants to know where it goes when he switches on the light.  Soon he is having a conversation with the Dark who promises to tell him his secret.  Cleverly Le Cain's anthropomorphized Dark can be seen on each page.

Hildilid's Night

This is a good one from our collection of books illustrated by Arnold Lobel.  (Who am I kidding?  All of his books are good ones!). 

 

Hildilid's Night

Cheli Duran Ryan

illustrated by Arnold Lobel 1996

Hildilid hates the night and tries to get rid of it in a variety of ways- sweeping it, stuffing it in a sack, tying it up, feeding it to her dog, drowning it, shearing it, boiling it, even spanking it (which cracked us up!).  Finally she realizes that she must simply ignore it as it ignored her.

Bears in the Night

Bears in the Night

Stan and Jan Berenstain 1971

An early Berenstain Bears book that teaches direction words.  What happens when a group of bears climb out their window to follow a strange sound?  They go up and down, over, under, around, and through the woods to find a surprise!