Picture Books

NZ Writer & Illustrator

Melinda Szymanik, illustrated by Greg Straight

While You Are Sleeping

Duck Creek Press   2013       $29.99hb  32pp

ISBN  978 1 8773 7877 5

ISBN  978 1 8773 7878 2  Paperback edition $19.99

Theme:         The world at night

While the small child and his/her dog sleep peacefully the world outside the window is a frenetically busy place. The moon jumps over the cows, bakers get up at 4.50am to put the dough to rise, the sun sets and rises (in France), trains, planes and mighty trucks with bright eyes winking rush through the night. Apart from the French scene, the illustrations all indicate it is nighttime with a clever use of deep purple backgrounds and wonderfully colorful images. As in all good picture books the reader and listener will want to go back again and again to discover phrases and details they missed on the previous time (and the time before that).

Preschool -Year  2/ Ages 3 - 6