In Wide-Open Spaces

For centuries, month after month, year after year, they have spent more time in a saddle on horseback than most other individuals.  Their dedication to a particular way of life is disputed by few if any.  They watch over and herd on ranches and the trail with their constant companions, cattle.  They have been the subject of literature, movies, documentaries and television shows.

All of us have definitions for the word cowboy.  We have places we put them geographically and historically.  Real Cowboys (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, October 4, 2016) written by Kate Hoefler with illustrations by Jonathan Bean lifts them up in an artistic tribute with words and images.

Real cowboys are quiet in the morning, careful not to wake the people who live in little houses in the hollow, and up the mountains, and at the edge of fields in the distance.

They focus on those under their care; putting them first.  They do whatever needs to be done to sooth and heal. In order to do their jobs well, cowboys take care of themselves by wearing protective clothing and remaining calm regardless of opportunities and challenges inviting the opposite.

Cowboys are part of a team, human and canine, working toward a common goal.  When nature or another event frightens the herd and a stampede is inevitable, cowboys' hearts are heavy.  The losses are deeply felt.

As students and mentors of the lands they roam, they have learned to protect that which provides for them. Cowboys cross the lines of gender and ethnicity.  You make think their days with cattle, dogs, horses and other cowboys limit their creativity and capacity for imagining but cowboys, like life, are full of surprises.


There is reverence in the words written by debut author Kate Hoefler.  Each portion addresses those known and unknown attributes each cowboy possesses.  Hoefler looks at the cowboy as a whole person beginning each virtue repeatedly with

Real cowboys are...

She follows with illuminative phrases reminding us how wonderful the use of language can be when finding beauty in everyday things.  Here is a passage.

At night, they sing lullabies over the calls of coyotes---songs that keep cows on a prairie deep in sleep.


From left edge to right edge the first image readers see on the opened, matching dust jacket and book case is a cowboy off his horse and (The horse is grazing and shown beneath a full moon to the left of the spine) tending to a stray calf.  The use of light on the earth tone colors in the nighttime makes for a stunning introductory illustration. This picture and the others within the body of the book are rendered with

hand-stenciled shapes and textures layered with the computer and printed in four Pantone colors.

In a conversation with Jonathan Bean yesterday I inquired:

This style seems similar to Bad Bye, Good Bye as far as the layering but is the stenciling new?  How long did it take you to cut out the stencils?

I also used stencils in BAD BYE, except that in BB the stencils were mostly tape affixed to paper and filled with ink washes.  That's why you noticed a similarity.  With RC most of the stencils were not affixed to paper and were made from plastic vellum, so I could use them over and over, which I did. :)  I used sponges, rollers, potatoes, and other things with these stencils.  Most of the stencils didn't take too long to cut out, but I was tired of Xacto knife work by the end!

A bright golden yellow covers the opening and closing endpapers.  On the title page Bean gives us an inside view of a cowboy at rest.  A star-studded sky is seen in the window.  A clock above his bed on a shelf reads 3:16.  Nails in the bare wooden walls hold personal possessions, his clothing and gear.  The verso and first page are done in shades of red as the dawn brightens peaks in the distance.  Another cowboy starts his day shaving outside, using a hand-held mirror.

The remaining two-page visuals in this title, in shades of brown, yellow, blue, red (slightly salmon), are breathtaking combinations of these colors depending on the time of day, the event and the emotion being conveyed in the text.  Within any selected illustration Bean presents multiple perspectives first drawing our eyes close to a dominant element and then asking us to view smaller details.  If you study the faces of his cowboys and even those of the animals, there is an array of realistic expressions.  We also move from day to night and night to day as our eyes cross the gutter.  We are brought full circle on the final single page through the choice of the same hues as in the beginning although they are much lighter and the lines are more delicate.

One of my favorite illustrations is the left portion of a hilly vista.  It is night with a three-quarter moon hanging above the hills at the top of the page.  A lone cowboy sits on his horse with a herd spread below him.  On the left side in the middle of the image, even farther down from the hilltop, more of the herd gathers around a river.  In the lower, right hand corner a chuck wagon is placed near a tree.  One cowboy sits by a fire as two others sleep.  Empty bedrolls await their occupants.  Horses are drinking from the river.  At the top of another hill in the lower, left-hand corner a coyote watches.  This scene is alive.


Real Cowboys written by Kate Hoefler with illustrations by Jonathan Bean is a unique and beautiful presentation of contemporary cowboys.  The narrative and images replicate the rhythm of the life these individuals live.  The effect is remarkable.

To learn more about Jonathan Bean and his other work please visit his website by following the link attached to his name.  Jonathan does have a blog which will give you insights into his earlier work.  Jonathan Bean and his work on this title are highlighted at author, reviewer and blogger Julie Daniels's blog Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast.  Don't miss this post.  It is a fascinating look at the process.  Jonathan is also interviewed at HorseChannel.com and Miss Marple's Musings.

For more information on cowboys and their history information can be found at History.com, National Geographic, PBS.org and The Library of Congress.

To Go, To Arrive

A single word can be laden with meaning.  It can be interpreted differently depending on the situation and the tone of voice in which it is spoken.  In several languages bidding someone farewell is akin to a blessing.  Adios is a contraction of an earlier phrase meaning I commend you to God; some feeling it is more formal than Hasta luego or Hasta manana (See you later or See you tomorrow). In its original form goodbye meant God be with you.

No matter the meaning or how it is said, goodbye is edged initially with sadness; either you or someone else is leaving.  When the choice to go is not yours it's even harder; in some cases an act of bravery.  Bad Bye, Good Bye (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, April 1, 2014) written by Deborah Underwood with illustrations by Jonathan Bean is about going from the familiar into the unknown; frightening or exciting or a little bit of both.

Bad day
Bad box
Bad mop
Bad blocks


Moving day has arrived.  A little boy and his younger sister are angry and sobbing.  They will do anything to hinder the loading of the truck.  The ride following the van and the movers is not starting off well.  Rain pouring from a dark cloudy sky does nothing to help the situation.

Views during travel change; city to country, country to city.  Mom and Dad trade places driving; everyone napping when they can.  Maps, rest stops, a motel and games mingle with the journey. Two days distance the foursome from the past transporting them into a new future.

Sunset comes and shadows grow as the headlights from the family's car shine down a new street.  Men unload the furniture and boxes.  The boy explores.  Four-legged friends greet, two boys meet, fireflies and a night sky signal a shift.


A wizard with words, Deborah Underwood, conveys volumes with her simple rhyming text.  With each reading the mood conveyed with her narrative never changes; we travel from one community to the next as the boy's spirits alter from despondent to hopeful.  I've read this at least five times.  Each time I can sense a feeling of lightness growing as the family gets closer to their destination; peaking with the compilation of pages on their arrival.  The technique Underwood uses is the repetition of the word new in contrast to the word bad at the beginning.  It works wonderfully with her in-between choices.


Extending from flap edge to flap edge, the dust jacket expressively displays, in seven images of the family car, the literal and emotional transition.  Using ink and Prismacolor tone throughout Jonathan Bean creates truly memorable artwork.  As you look at each image the characters' facial expressions change, the weather changes and so does the color palette.  The opening endpapers are done in a solid steel blue-gray.  A sunny golden yellow covers the closing endpapers.

Bean begins his pictorial story, interpretation, on the title page with the boy and his ever-present pooch pal scowling at the man picking up his box of toys.  As a background for many of the visuals Bean has drawn in black and white, looking like shaded sketches in pencil or ink, additional elements.  It's an incredible layered effect.  (Please go to his featured post at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast to see his process along with artwork.) Two words which beautifully sum up his two-page illustrations for this title are movement and mood.

The placement of details within each scene adds to the range and depth of emotion conveyed.  The boy's dog pulling on his shirt as he pulls on the pants and legs of the movers, the smeared red ink on the SOLD sign in the rain, the partial name of a town on a water tower, a grain elevator among the golden wheat phrase, the Dog Walk sign at the rest area, a female truck driver and moths about an outside light all contribute to a realistic enhancement of the text.  Another important factor is perspective with Bean choosing to bring readers into a moment by zooming in or providing a more panoramic view to convey the extent of the change.

One of my favorite images is of the two boys sitting together in the tree with the night wrapped around them like a comforting blanket, fireflies blinking everywhere.  Our boy is holding a jar filled with lightning bugs; the two having shared their first tiny adventure together.  The new boy's Mom is standing outside their home looking off the page perhaps chatting with her new neighbors.  It illuminates the words:

Good tree
Good sky


To help children who are moving, for others to understand how moving felt for their new friends and for adults to realize the emotional significance of a move, Bad Bye, Good Bye written by Deborah Underwood with illustrations by Jonathan Bean is absolutely brilliant.  You, as the young boy is, will be emotionally transformed.  I will be placing this title on my Mock Caldecott 2015 list.

Please follow the links embedded in the author's and illustrator's names to access their websites.  Elizabeth Bird, New York Public Library's Youth Materials Collection Specialist and blogger at A Fuse #8 Production alerted me to an interview post by Deborah Underwood linked here. The people at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt have made a Bad Bye, Good Bye Tips for a Good Move with Kids page.  I'm pretty sure my love of books written by Deborah Underwood was enhanced by an earlier interview at Watch. Connect. Read. hosted by teacher librarian John Schumacher.

Soothing Slumber

If we trust our instincts, follow a hunch, the results are frequently surprising in the best possible way.  It's almost as if some unseen hand is guiding our way.  Untold treasures await us.

Twenty years ago, Amy Gary, editor of the Margaret Wise Brown Estate, on a whim asked Brown's sister, Roberta Rauch, if she knew of any unpublished works.  Can you imagine hearing an affirmative reply? Stacked in a trunk kept in the attic of the barn on her Vermont farm were pages and pages of poems, stories and musical scores.  Last week some of those gems were released into the world, collected in a title, Goodnight Songs: Illustrated by Twelve Award-Winning Picture Book Artists (Sterling Children's Books, March 4, 2014).  The words of Margaret Wise Brown have been visualized by Jonathan Bean, Carin Berger, Sophie Blackall, Linda Bleck, Renata Liwska, Christopher Silas Neal, Zachariah OHora, Eric Puybaret, Sean Qualls, Isabel Roxas, Melissa Sweet and Dan Yaccarino.

Appealing to the inherent musical nature of children these twelve lyrical poems cast a gossamer net pulsing with a gentle cadence around all who read them.  They encourage dreams of playful fantasy uninterrupted by nothing until the morning dawns.  Any cares of the daytime will float away as evening falls through the text and pictures.  Margaret Wise Brown's simple repetitive phrases float and dance off the pages.

Readers find themselves traveling by balloon in the company of a bear, baboon, monkey, troll and mole.  They are lulled to sleep by a very particular melody or in following the nighttime rituals of a goat, or a rabbit and a bear.  I'll wager most readers are unaware of the man in the moon's youth.

Safety on the seas is found in the arms of another.  They learn of those who see what others do not.  Roads travel vertically through an abandoned town constructed entirely of wood.  One by one a donkey, a monkey, a sheep, a pig, birds, a black cat and a child are asked to close their eyes.

What do you see when you close your eyes?  What do you hear in the night?  What might a mouse ask for in a prayer?  Blissful peace is assured.

Two pages are dedicated to each song; illustrations extending edge to edge on heavy matte finished paper.  While the color of the font may vary the same is used in all the text.  The text is tucked within each picture, noticeable but not a distraction.  Tiny white stars seen on the dust jacket and matching book case pattern the opening and closing endpapers.

Renata Liwska captures the soft slumbering characters of The Noon Balloon nestled in fluffy clouds suspended in a pale blue sky.  Intricate lines, exquisite architectural details and a boat riding the waves beneath a full moon ease a child into dreamland drawn by Sophie Blackall in Mambian Melody.  Goats with teddy bears and stuffed toy rabbits and drinking from large pink tea cups populate mountains and hills where skunks carry lanterns and hedgehogs huddle in Goat on the Mountain visualized by Linda Bleck.

Sleep like a Rabbit illustrated by Isabel Roxas pictures a pig-tailed girl in a red dress sleeping near a bear and a rabbit adrift in a sea of stars.  This is also the jacket and case illustration.  Unique, painted, collage-like clouds and stars float around a mustached man in the moon as his younger self runs across his surface when Sean Qualls pictures When the Man in the Moon Was a Little Boy. As if surrounded in a wispy fog Song to Estyn, illustrated by Eric Puybaret, shows a man in a long golden all-weather coat, captain's hat on his head holding a child in a sailor suit on board a ship.

Melissa Sweet's signature style, of pastel collage with splashes of red, pieces together The Secret Song.  White block-like houses, one on top of the other, are strung together by a ribbon road of red among green tulips on a midnight blue background by Christoper Silas Neal for Wooden Town.  An orange, blue, black and white palette feature creatures looking upon and living in a town as a child gazes out his window in Little Donkey Close Your Eyes portrayed by Zachariah OHora.

Blue and white striped curtains billow around the stage set with green birds, blue clouds and rows of cut-out houses in Carin Berger's interpretation of When I Close My Eyes. Bold, bright orange-yellow, orange, green, purple and shades of dark blue mesh perfectly to create the quiet found in Sounds in the Night pictured by Dan Yaccarino.  It's a windy, winter night, leaves and snow swirling about under a full moon as a child sleeps beneath a large leaf and a mouse stands in the doorway of his cozy home in The Mouse's Prayer depicted by Jonathan Bean.

Stunning pictures lift the words of Margaret Wise Brown toward dreamland in Goodnight Songs: Illustrated by Twelve Award-Winning Picture Book Artists.  As if the text and visuals are not enough to hold readers spellbound, a CD with the words set to music by Tom Proutt and Emily Gary is included.  I have listened to it twice as of this writing.  It is truly lovely.  You could not ask for a better book for closing out your day or bringing a small measure of calm into an afternoon.

Two pages at the book's conclusion include thumbnails of the illustrations along with comments about or by the illustrators.  A note from the musicians and credits are inserted on the closing endpapers.  An introduction by Amy Gary begins this title.

I hope you enjoy these videos.  I was made aware of some of them through tweets by the illustrators.



Goodnight Songs: Chris Neal, contributing illustrator from Sterling Publishing on Vimeo.



Goodnight Songs: Sean Qualls, contributing illustrator from Sterling Publishing on Vimeo.



Goodnight Songs: Sophie Blackall, contributing illustrator from Sterling Publishing on Vimeo.



Goodnight Songs: Carin Berger, contributing illustrator from Sterling Publishing on Vimeo.



Goodnight Songs: Isabel Roxas, contributing illustrator from Sterling Publishing on Vimeo.


Goodnight Songs: DanYacarino, contributing illustrator from Sterling Publishing on Vimeo.



Goodnight Songs: Amy Gary, editor of Goodnight Songs by Margaret Wise Brown from Sterling Publishing on Vimeo.

Flake By Flake

There is nothing like the feeling of anticipation as we await a big event, an event we have experienced before, an event we know will color our world in the best way possible.  Perhaps we travel hundreds, maybe even thousands of miles, to relive a series of unforgettable seconds, minutes, hours or days.  Or maybe all we have to do is walk out the door of our home.

Some say this excitement is heightened for children but if you carry the wonder of childhood in your soul, seeing the world with their eyes, it's the same no matter your age.  When the trees are bare of leaves, temperatures and the barometer dropping, gray clouds gathering overhead in the sky and the date of December 22 is getting closer on the calendar, it's a sure sign snow is eminent.  Jonathan Bean (One Starry Night, Building Our House) fills his readers' hearts with a keen sense of hopefulness in his most recent title, Big Snow (Farrar Straus Giroux).

"Mom," said David, "when will it snow?"

David is entering the kitchen through the back door all bundled up in winter clothing after being outside gazing up and about his yard.  His Mom suggests he help her bake cookies as he waits for the snow which will surely fall soon.  He measures out ingredients until the flour reminds him of flurries, falling flurries.

Out he goes to see if the flakes are coming down yet.  They are!  Now he wonders how much snow will fall.  His Mom thinks it will cover the ground but asks him to help her clean the bathrooms.  All goes well until the oodles of soapy bubbles remind him of what is happening in his neighborhood.  When he opens the door, stepping onto the lawn, he sees the world starting to look whiter.

Busy getting ready for company his Mom could use his help changing the bedding.  Doing the best he can, he drapes those pure white sheets over his mattress.  Yes, readers, they remind him of the drifts which must certainly be forming.  Out and in he goes again.  Everything is getting spread in layers of winter's frosting.

Could this be a big snow?  During his afternoon nap, a dream exceeds his wildest expectations.  Between reality and our imagination the line is often fine, so fine it ceases to exist.


It's easy to fall in love with David and his Mom.  Their conversational exchanges depict a trusting and loving relationship; his enthusiasm tempered with her patience throughout the day.  For each task reminding David of the snow, Jonathan Bean takes David's words using them to build upon the changing weather outside. His repetition of a certain phrase gives the story a spirited rhythm matching the boy's growing eagerness.  Here is an example.

But then the flour, white and fine, made David think of snow.
So he decided to check the weather. 
Small flakes fell softly, white and fine.


Opening the jacket we get a bird's eye perspective of the town, zooming in on David in his backyard with his red sled waiting, watching the snowflakes fall.  On the title page the viewpoint shifts to us looking at David straight on, his Mom peering out the kitchen window to check on him.  The next wordless illustration spans edge to edge across two pages, giving us a glimpse of the neighborhood, a small quiet area with older homes.  Again we are looking from above.

For the majority of the book four single-page pictures follow one of Jonathan Bean's two page spreads.  The single pages bring us right into the rooms of the house with David and his Mom.  A special endearing humor becomes apparent when Bean interprets this sentence each time.

So he decided to check the weather.

We see David's mom cleaning up, finishing, his latest efforts to help, little messes left in haste.

Rendered in watercolor and ink, the choices in color, while it's winter outside, exude a warmth especially when we are inside David's home.  Small details Christmas decorations, a calendar and a menorah in a neighbor's window give us an idea of the time of year.  Quietly present in most of the illustrations, clearly a member of the family, is a ginger-colored cat.  Bean even concludes the story with a final small illustration as part of the publication information page.


Big Snow written and illustrated by Jonathan Bean is going to make a big impression on every single reader.  With a group as the first snowfall gently covers the ground outside or one on one snuggled inside before bed, this book is adorable with a capital A.  It's got the combination of text and pictures which will make it a timeless classic.

Embedded in Jonathan Bean's name are links to his website and blog.  If you follow this link to the publisher's website you can get a look at more illustrations from the book. Update:  Today, October 31, 2013, Julie Danielson at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast, posted many illustrations in various stages from this title.

From The Ground Up...

When I was growing up my Dad who worked as a carpenter for years as his first job, made sure I had the fundamentals of hammer, nails, nuts, bolts, saw, pliers and wrench use down pat.  It came in handy when in 1976 after acquiring twenty acres of wooded property outside a city in northern Michigan, my husband and I found ourselves building our own home.  We each had our own chain saws to clear an area for the house; cutting down dozens of trees which provided heat in our wood stove for years.

A crew dug the basement and laid the foundation, drilled the well and put in the septic system.  We had hired a construction crew but when my husband found their work to be less than plumb, with the framing barely started, they were dismissed and we proceeded to finish the home ourselves.  We lived in a tent until it became too cold, then moved to one room in a motel.  Working at jobs and building a house with the remaining time each day is an experience I will never forget.  Looking back, I can't believe we did it.

For this reason (among others) after reading a post at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast about a new Jonathan Bean title, I knew I had to have it.  Building Our House (Farrar Straus Giroux) is written and illustrated to honor his family and is founded on his own parents building a house for their family.  As his parents painstakingly built the home step by step, Jonathan Bean builds this story picture by picture, word by word.


Today is moving day.  We left our old house in the city and are moving to the country.

Told in the voice of his older sister we follow the Bean family as their resourcefulness and spirit of self-sufficiency guide them on their adventure.  A field purchased from a farmer at the end of a dirt road is the site for a home they will build.  Tools, plans, Mom, Dad, a younger brother and a truck named Willys arrive ready to begin.

Essentials, running water and electricity, are first and foremost followed by the arrival of a small trailer.  The family of four will live in this small home on wheels while we build our new house.  Working together with the help of Willys materials are gathered; wood, rocks, sand and stone are piled about the field.

Grandpa provides the backhoe for digging the basement, the family builds forms for the foundation filling them with those collected items, then Mom measures and Dad cuts beams.  People, extended family, friends and neighbors, come for a frame-raising day and party.  Knowing winter is not far away as summer days grow cooler, the little family works harder than ever.

Siding, windows, floors, a door, roof, and chimney are pieced around the frame fashioned by many.  As snow and wind swirl outside, the house becomes more whole as the inside is filled with plumbing, electrical wires, insulation and walls shape rooms.  The seasons shift bringing a new addition and a very special day, moving day.  Family of five...house...home...contented, happy hearts...


There is no other way to describe the writing and illustrating of this book other than as a labor of love. The narrative voice is youthful, matter-of-fact but observant noting parental axioms and day-to-day details of the construction process.  Readers will notice the word choice, placement and pacing provide a certain soothing rhythm not unlike that of the house's changes through the months.  Here are a couple of selected sentences from one of my favorite parts.

On a clear, cold night Dad sets the corners of the foundation by the North Star.  One wall will face north to ward off the wind, one east to welcome the morning, one south to soak in the sun, and one west to see out the day.


From pencil sketches, to ink and watercolor, the pictures by Jonathan Bean are individual masterpieces, small captured moments in his family's life.  An identical jacket and cover feature a close-up of the building in progress on the front while the back shows the completed home in the early evening, lights in the windows.  Opening endpapers in tones of tan provide a vista of the countryside as it was before their arrival.  The same colors are used in the closing endpapers but the home, shed, gardens, laundry on a clothesline, a tree house and a foal with the horse in the farmer's field have been added to the original scene.

A heavier matte-finished paper adds to the warmth of the visuals which begin the story on the title page showing the family loading Willys up for the move into the country.  Some of the illustrations extend across two pages, edge to edge,  while others are smaller as the steps in the process are related; these having rounded edges as an invitation to the reader.  Still more pages are a series of pictures blended together as if links on a chain with the text woven among them.

With every viewing more details can be noticed; details adding to the life-affirming nature of the venture, a dream fulfilled through determination and love.  A cat appearing at their arrival is adopted and has kittens.  A tiny evergreen tree is placed on the peak of the roof after the frame-raising. During a rain storm Mom is holding an umbrella for Dad as his works on the roof; the children seeking shelter beneath the overturned wheel barrow.  Despite all the hub-bub a groundhog continues to build his home nearby as the months pass. It's these little things that contribute to this title's excellence.


Jonathan Bean in writing and illustrating Building Our House has invited readers into his past; a past filled with the best kind of memories, a cherished childhood.  This beautiful book in addition to being featured at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast (the array of artwork in various stages is a must see) is showcased at Kirkus and at The Horn Book here and here.  Make sure this title is on your must- purchase list.  You'll want to read it again and again.

A Night Like No Other

Upon opening the package containing my personal copy of One Starry Night (Margaret K. McElderry Books) written by Lauren Thompson and illustrated by Jonathan Bean, I gasped; so taken by the visual impact of the rich hues of midnight blue, warm brown, creamy white all accented in soft black, the humble portrait of Joseph, Mary and the child beneath a blanket of silver stars.  Turning the first page One Starry Night in white sits in the night sky as a lone owl perches on a broken tree in the desert clime.  He takes flight across a two-page landscape featuring further publication and title information.  It is here readers are told:

The wild animals featured in this book could all be found in the Holy Land at the time of the traditional nativity story.  They are the untamed cousins of the domesticated animals named in the text.

Followed by another double-page illustration (which is the format throughout the book), the owl now sitting on a rocky ledge is joined by a small rodent as the author and illustrator name their dedications.

Using little but powerful and prayerful text alternately rhyming, Thompson speaks of female animals watching over their young; a sheep with her lamb, a cow with her calf, a nanny goat with her kid, a pig with her piglet, a cat with her kitten, a dog with her pup, a donkey with her foal and a dove with her doveling. 

a nanny goat watched over her kid
"never far"
a pig watched over her piglet
"wherever you are"

All seem to be moving toward a destination.  It is in the final pages that readers see they are to join one another in a common purpose.  To gaze upon, surround and rest near the Holy Family who themselves sought shelter in a tiny, open, wooden stable outside the town of Bethlehem, as they watch over their child.

Jonathan Bean rendered all the illustrations for this title in pencil and colored them digitally.  This technique produced breathtaking results reminiscent of charcoal drawings giving a velvet softness to each visual; motion shrouded in stillness.

The owl glides across the sky of a mother/child depiction, the rodent is tucked among a stony outcropping, a hedgehog peeks out, an occupied web stretches among tree branches or a scorpion scurries.  Careful viewers will notice the skillful use of foreshadowing; animals to be featured are woven into the previous pages' scenery.   Knowledge of the setting, flora and fauna, is highly evident in the smallest of details.

Regal reverence reaches out to readers in this exquisite rendition of the Holy Night by Lauren Thompson and Jonathan Bean.  All is right in the world, a peacefulness settles, in this title, One Starry Night, surely destined to be a classic for its singular, stunning portrayal of the Nativity.

Please visit each of these gifted artist's websites linked to their names above.  A truly wonderful interview of Jonathan Bean is found at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast.  He reveals his process for creating his beautiful illustrations; numerous visuals found in this book are displayed within that post.