What Goes There?

Prior to being chosen by my canine companion, I was sleeping when the rest of the world was sleeping.  In the past fourteen years, and counting, I have become another wanderer in the host of nighttime shadows.  Sometimes I push back the dark with outside house lights, a flashlight or a head lamp.  On other walks I let the moon and my furry friend guide me.  We are ever vigilant, leery of close encounters.

If the silence is broken by the snap of a twig or an unfamiliar sound, we halt, heartbeats quickening.  We stand as still as stone hoping to go undetected as another passes.  Night Animals (Viking, an imprint of Penguin Group (USA), July 14, 2015) written and illustrated by Gianna Marino follows a group of beings on a frightful night.

Hey Possum, 
what are
you doing 
in there?

Possum is trying to avoid contact with what he believes are scary things in the forest.  He whispers and motions for Skunk to be quiet.  The two are now inside a hollow stump hiding.  Skunk wonders why they are there.

They need to be wary of night animals according to Possum.  There's barely enough room so they leave to find a bigger place to conceal themselves.  When a howl echoes through the trees, Skunk starts to get jumpy.  Imagine their surprise when an alarmed wolf makes the twosome a threesome.

Playing dead because that's what he does best, Possum hears Wolf describe a truly terrifying creature.  It's Bear but he runs toward them in total panic.  What could this possibly be?  Racing for their lives as the sky darkens, they are frozen in place by a command.

It's a bat who asks a question, gets a reply and who in turn makes a very evident observation.  As the four forest critters utter an exclamation another inquiry, by an as yet unseen being, is made.  A small single sound reveals all.  The stunned silence explodes into pandemonium.  And Possum?  What do you think?


Told entirely in dialogue, sound effects and one thought by Possum, Gianna Marino hooks readers with the first question and answer.  The simple direct conversations, sometimes a series of single words, heighten the fear of the animals and the comedy for readers.  Through her word choices you can feel a tension building toward the surprising outcome (and a not so surprising) final act.  Here is a sample conversation.

HELP ME!
Aaaarrrroooooo
Help 
YOU!?
You're a 
wolf!


On the matching dust jacket and book case the look on Possum's face, those wild, wide eyes full of dread, is aimed toward the back, to the left.  Charcoal gray trees stand straight against the dark of night.  A howl rings loud and clear.  In a speech bubble someone says

Did you hear something?

On the inside of the dust jacket Gianna Marino explains the difference between nocturnal and crepuscular animals.  The six characters are featured in animated poses holding boxes which display four items of information about each of them; size, weight, a Did you know question and another fact.  The story begins and ends on the endpapers.  They are pitch black with only sets of eyes, white with black, on each of them plus a difference at the conclusion (which I will not disclose).

On the title page our tale continues in a double page illustration with Skunk meandering through the woods toward Possum peeking out from behind a hollow tree.  The remaining pictures rendered in gouache and ink on Fabriano Artistico paper all span two pages.  With the black canvas for them all, the colors of the animals pop off the page.  Except for the sound effects, the text is shown in white speech bubbles with black print.  To deepen the mood, Marino pulls readers further into the story by zooming in on several scenes.  The eyes of the characters elevate the hilarity.

One of several favorite illustrations is when Bear is making an appearance.  Wolf is describing him.  His arms are wrapped around Skunk in a tight embrace.  Possum is lying on the ground playing dead.  His thought is

I'm not here.


Guaranteed to generate laughter even after repeated readings, Night Animals written and illustrated by Gianna Marino will have you looking and listening every time you step outside after dark.  It's a healthy look at fear and being fearful.  It reacquaints readers with those animals that prefer to wander beneath the stars and the moon in its various phases.  Expect requests to read it over and over.

To discover more about Gianna Marino, her other books and artwork please follow the link attached to her name to access her website.  Gianna Marino was interviewed about this title at The Hiding Spot hosted by Sara who works at an independent book shop in Traverse City, Michigan.

I wrote about two other books written and illustrated by Gianna Marino, Meet Me At The Moon and  Too Tall Houses.

How High Can You Go?

Growing up I spent many an hour in a small aluminum boat fishing with my Dad.  It was always a marvel to me (and still is today) how something as thin, fine, as fishing line could be so strong.  Sometimes if the light were just right, it was invisible until the gentle breeze would shift our boat.

The thread that binds friends together is somewhat like fishing line; strong but mostly invisible.  Depending on the situation the line will loop down when all is well or grow taut almost to the breaking point when trust or affection are tested.  Gianna Marino, author of Meet Me at the Moon (Viking, March 2012)(reviewed here) has written and illustrated a brand new title, Too Tall Houses (Viking), released September 2012.

Rabbit and Owl lived in two small houses on top of a hill.

With their houses side by side Rabbit and Owl are more than neighbors, they are friends.  Rabbit gardens filling his space with sun-loving vegetables.  Owl takes great pleasure in gazing into the distance at the forest.

All is well day and night until Rabbit's crops grow a bit too tall, blocking the vista Owl so loves.  Rabbit doesn't know what to do.  After all, he needs to eat.

Owl flies in with more branches and more branches building his house taller, so when he sits on top he can see what he wants to see. He's one happy bird now but Rabbit is a tad bit peeved.  His sun-loving vegetables are in the shadow of the newly heightened abode.

Not only does Rabbit build his house taller but he plants more food on his roof.  Oops!  When he waters, it goes on Owl's head.  Guess who builds his house even taller?  Yes, the feathered friend is  farther up.

Not to be outdone, the harried hare hauls in more dirt, putting a fence around the garden on what is now the tallest house.  And so it goes, there is no more tending of the garden or looking at the woodlands.  These two are in a competition until their homes are towering above the earth.

Swaying in the strong breezy atmosphere they both express their dismay at no longer being able to do that which they love most.  The wily wind takes matters into its hands.  Brought down to earth they realize they have exactly what they need.


Simple words build simple sentences but it's the word choices which give depth to this story.  Gianna Marino spins a narrative using expressive verbs that most definitely set the tone for this rivalry gone wild.  She even gives voice to the wind,

Way up high,
the wind roared and bellowed, 
Whoosh!
Crreeeaaakkkkk...


Using Fabriano Artistico paper, gouache and pencil, Marino creates illustrations with intricate detail, a subtle softness engaging readers at every turn of page.  Beginning and closing endpapers portray changes seen within the story.  Pacing is perfected through the use of two-page spreads to single page and then back to double-page visuals.

An overlying glow radiates from her choice of colors, subdued and earthly.  Close inspection by readers sees Rabbit drying peppers on a "clothesline" with each vegetable in his garden carefully labeled with tiny markers.  As his house grows so does the elaborate gardens built into his structure.

Both of the characters, Rabbit and Owl, speak volumes with their eyes.  Readers will laugh aloud at the total disgust on Owl's face when water is poured on his head or when Rabbit has a tantrum jumping up and down.  Gianna Marino's illustrations truly compliment and enhance the text.  When she extends the final sentence across the final five pages, it is masterful, a marriage made in heaven between words and pictures.


Too Tall Houses written and illustrated by Gianna Marino is a marvelous story of friendship tested and found true.  It's about not knowing when to stop and the beauty of second chances.  The truly exquisite illustrations have garnered this title a spot on my Mock Caldecott list.

Mothers Never Really Leave

Through acts demonstrated again and again in all walks of life, love is truly the tie that binds.  One of the strongest loves is between mother and child.  For that reason a child, when faced with the loss of a mother, is frightened; a space once full is empty and what was normal is not.

Author/illustrator Gianna Marino in her newest title released this spring, Meet Me at the Moon (Viking, March 22, 2012), uses the plains of Africa as a backdrop for a story of love. 

Beneath the shade of the baobab tree, Little One sang, the calling song, and Mama came with a loving nuzzle.

It is in this closeness that Mama tells Little One she must go, climbing the tallest mountain to seek from the skies rain for their parched land.

Naturally, Little One doesn't want Mama to leave but she tells her child her love is everywhere, surrounding Little One.  She reassures Little One's questions with replies reflecting this belief; hearing her song on the wind, feeling her love in the sun's warmth, and seeing the same bright star in the night sky.  When Little One wonders how Mama will find Little One again, Mama says:

"When the night sky is bright, Little One, meet me at the moon, where the sky touches the earth.

With final spoken words of love, Mama leaves on her journey.  In her absence the young elephant listens to the wind, searches the starry dark and feels the warm of the sun knowing Mama's love.  Days pass with the land ever growing more dry.

Rains finally pour from the sky but Little One is unable to hear Mama on the wind, see their star or without the sun, feel her love.  As the sky clears, evening descends with the moon rising.  But how is Little One to reach the moon so high?  Remembering, a song floats into the night air.

Gianna Marino's text in this gentle story has a lyrical rhythm; as if one were reading a poem.  Mama's answers to Little One's doubts are exactly as one would expect from a creature close to the beating heart of Earth.  Readers will find comfort in the narrative as well as an expression of faith and hope.

In an interview given at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast, Marino describes her process for creating the mixed media paintings for this book also including the story behind this story.  Front endpapers show a glowing orange sunrise sky with the rolling plains in silhouette along the bottom.  A deepening night sky is depicted on the closing endpapers signifying a passage of time.

Throughout the story all the visuals are panoramic, two page spreads conveying the vastness of the setting.  Rich, warm hues of red, orange, and yellow dominate the pages with the land changing color indicting the presence or lack of rain.  The larger than life place of the sun and moon on many of the pages, a circle, illustrates the "no beginning, no end" idea of the love between Mama and Little One.  The final illustration of the pair beneath the moon continues that shape with Mama encircling Little One.

The illustrations of Little One and Mama are not done with them in isolation; zebras and giraffes are in constant motion in the background or framing the mother and child.  Knowing Little One is alone they are given a larger importance in the paintings.  Expressions on the faces of all the animals are a thing of beauty.

Meet Me at the Moon by Gianna Marino is a marvel of breathtaking detail set among the savannahs of Africa conveying the link of love that separation can not break.  Paintings and text work as one telling a story, timeless and true.  Share this book with everyone, with someone you love.