In the Night Garden: The Bedtime Book

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In the Night Garden is so stunning, and I know that it will encourage those who read it to be open and curious about being outside and enjoying it outdoors during the night, too. So, thank you so much for just coming and sharing your process and your heart with us today. It’s been an absolute pleasure. And then I just use really; it’s all really rudimentary materials. It’s old ephemera. So, I collect stuff, and I love that they come with these stories built in. So, some of them are really old, from the 18 hundreds, and they’re ledger books from an old grocery store. Some of them are letters. And again, I just love the poignancy of them having this kind of mystery of where they came from. And then some of them are J. Crew catalogs, which, unfortunately, J. Crew has stopped making them, or magazines or something that I find on the street that just has a good number on it. Reading this book has left me practically speechless. Almost anything I could say about it will fall flat in the sheer enormity of the experience.

The process of creating collages, which involves drawing intricate dummies, making vellums, cutting stencils, and using found ephemera It’s kind of like asking if you have a favorite child. I mean, each spread kind of has its own resonance for me. So I don’t think I have a favorite spread per se. I think, um, there is one of the houses, and that’s our house, so that’s kind of nice to have. In tandem, the text and art endow nighttime with a sense of whimsy and wonder, and for little ones readying for bed, they’ll find comfort and reassurance for sweeter dreams.” —Booklist, Starred Review

This is much the kind of book I would expect to be written by someone who changed her name to 'Catherynne', with that spelling—it's all fantastical creatures and quests and magic. It is a much more intelligent book than I expected, with stories nested within stories, and gender tropes are inverted (there are no damsels in distress here) to my great satisfaction. The maiden is the monster is the pirate; women can grow up to be fierce warriors. By turns the other stories are ethereal, rich, strange, bloody, sad and haunting. The underlying factor is their unceasing creativity, in that they offer twists to tired tropes, illuminate new voices and feature a dizzying variety of amazing beings. It also helps that Valente's prose is powerful, leaving me stunned on a few occasions. Here is a favorite:

Wedged behind the bar was a great hulk of a man who looked as though some giant had simply dropped an armful of limbs into a heap. A gentle, collage-illustrated bedtime read about the often mysterious and always beautiful experiences to be found in nighttime spaces. In this episode of The Growing Readers Podcast, listeners will have the chance to learn about award-winning author-illustrator Carin Berger, her love for books, childhood memories, and the inspiration behind her latest book, In The Night Garden. Because sometimes, if you’re out in nature, if you are being loud and busy, you’re not going to catch what nature is trying to show you. And so having this quiet cat sort of gracefully move through the night, obviously a picture book, the only sounds you’re going to hear are the sounds in your head or the sounds of the grown-up reading it to you. And I think because she is a quiet narrator, we get to actually take in and have the sensory experience of what your artwork is showing us and what your words are telling us. I love that you said that. I wouldn't assume that this book is for everybody, but if you like everything fantastical, if you are a fan of dark fantasy, this book is a must-read for you.

The Manikarnika were seven sisters, and when they were gnawed from the flesh of the Mare, they were Stones. Jade, Granite and Opal, Garnet and Shale and Iron Ore and little Diamond, pale as a milk-soaked paw." It's Igglepiggle's birthday - but it seems that all of his friends in the Night Garden have forgotten! Igglepiggle is sad to find that nobody wants to play today. But there are a few things going on around the garden that Igglepiggle hasn't spotted. Makka Pakka is painting a special stone, the Tombliboos are hanging bunting, and the Pontipines have made a cake . . . Maybe Igglepiggle's friends haven't forgotten his birthday after all! Note: The rest of this review has been withdrawn due to the changes in Goodreads policy and enforcement. You can read why I came to this decision here. So, what’s something that you like to do when you need to clear your head and focus on creating a book? I have to imagine you like to get outside.