The Night – Perfect Picture Book Friday

This week’s selection is a beautifully illustrated wordless picture book, one that’s haunting and magical and will most likely prove fascinating to kids and adults alike. I say that because it raises questions in my mind each time I read it. And I think it will raise all kinds of questions in the minds of young readers, too.

First, the cover shown above. Shooting stars on a starry night. The sense of a hot night wind blowing across a wild, grassy field. And three figures holding hands, looking like they’re on an adventure together.

The end papers feel a bit mysterious, wondrous, and perhaps a little ominous? But this endpaper will show up again in the middle of the book where it then feels more magical than anything else.

The story begins…

It is a gloomy, rainy night, and the children’s mother is headed out. Their faces look a little uncertain as she hugs them good-bye. And, notably, the boy is holding the book, Hansel & Gretel. Hmmmm. The darkness hovers around them.

The next spread (not shown here) shows the mother driving away in the dark down a long and winding road. And we see the faces of the two children peering out the window into the dark.

And then….

Grandma? looking like she’s grabbing them, possibly by the noses to get them to come to dinner. The publisher’s description calls her “the babysitter,” but she seems more like a strict (or evil) grandmother you’d find in a Grimm’s Fairy Tale. Are the children eating their veggies? Was that pea that rolled on the floor discarded purposefully? Well, here it is, and eat it now! (Notice how I’m writing my version of the story.) The children do not look like they’re enjoying their dinner.

And then it’s time for bed. Nearly midnight, the witching hour. Take a close look at the images on the wall that the child is peeking around to get a view of the “babysitter.” One image looks like an upright animal with a short tail. Could this be Pan, the Greek god of the wild, shepherds, and flocks?

And then there’s the creepy, illuminated grandmother (I’ve decided that’s what she is.). Even asleep in the chair, she looks malevolent. Note the shadow behind her (below the deer head on the wall) and how its shape mimics the shape of the head of the Pan “creature” in the image. Notice how the shadows all feel like they could come alive at any moment. How much of this is real, and how much is in the children’s imagination (or mine) stoked by the reading of Hansel & Gretel?

The next spread (not shown) shows the two children snuggled in bed as they imagine the old woman picking her teeth with a bone. Yikes! So they decide to escape by sneaking out of the house into the dark night. It is still raining, and they take shelter in cave where they meet a faun, a young woman who transforms the night into one of wonder and magic.

They see nocturnal animals, night-blooming flowers, and witness the wonder of shooting stars. The moon rises and walks over the mountains (yes, it has a face and arms and legs). They frolic with bunnies and find a shepherd and his trusty herding dock watching over a flock of sheep. Until they hear their mother calling…

Both the mother and grandmother are standing outside in the dark in front of the house where every window is now illuminated. It feels like the adults have been frantically searching everywhere for the children and run toward them, as if this has not been dream. Or has this been a dream? There is no right or wrong answer.

Then the last spread…

Shows the children in bed with the mother, the grandmother still in the house…but now the look on her face is so much more benevolent than before. Is it possible her face always looked this way, but the children’s perspective was influenced by Hansel & Gretel…the book that is now resting on the bottom of the bedside table? Was it all a dream? Only the shadow knows for sure.

Atmospheric and haunting, I could pore over these images for a long time. And I think I would have done so as a child, too. Now, depending on the sensitivity (and age) of the child, I might not want to read this before bedtime due to a couple of the early images of the grandmother. But I would definitely want to read and talk about it during the light of day. After all, children’s fear and giving them agency to overcome it is an important element of fairy tales. Hope you get a chance to check this book out!

Activities:

If you could go on a midnight adventure, where would you go? What would you do? Would you go alone or with other people? Have you ever been outside alone in the dark? If yes, how did it feel?

Pair this book with another late night adventure, The Couch in the Yard by Kate Hoefler, illustrated by Dena Seiferling. One book leans heavily into wonder. The other adds an element of fear, but fear that arises from the imagination. You could call it exciting-scary. Compare the ways in which the two stories are similar and different. How do you “read” a wordless story differently than one with a written narrative?

Write the narrative for The Night, as if you were telling the story to your friends.

Title: The Night

Author/Illustrator: Mariachiara Di Giorgio

Publisher: NorthSouth, 2026

Ages: Elementary school+

Themes: Fairy tales, dreams, adventure

For more perfect picture book recommendations, please visit Susanna Hill’s website.