In the Night Garden

Using finely cut paper shapes to create a striking sequence of collaged spreads, Berger (A Curious Menagerie) meditates on the magic that unfolds around an ordinary house at night. Alongside a black cat, a gingham-clad child portrayed with brown skin stares up at the sky in an early spread: “In the night garden, you can lie on the cool grass and look up to the millions and trillions of stars.” But it’s the cat that subsequently threads its way through most of the book’s spreads. The feline stalks behind brilliant white moonflowers that “unfurl and release their intoxicating perfume,” becomes the face of a shooting star, bats at a firefly in a garden densely patterned with stylized flowers, and sits listening to a hoot owl “calling to you from a far-off tree.” Alongside tranquil text, landscapes bear traces of mosaics, tapestry art, and William Morris prints, their layered components sometimes represented in snips of handwritten and printed pages. All the senses are engaged as, en route to a cozy “sleep tight,” Berger presents the smells, the sounds, and the sights of nighttime as elegant, dazzling, and serene. Ages 3–6. (July)