Midnight Motorbike

“On a night too hot to sleep,” a child narrator and their Amma ride on a motorcycle “through villages,” amid lush greenery, and “between silent temples” toward the Bay of Bengal. “In the belly of the Indian moon,” they pass through a market where the child reports myriad perceptions: “steaming silver-cupped chai,/ spicy potato-stuffed masala dosas,/ and the warm hay of an elephant’s bed.” Finally, the moon high in the sky, the narrator falls asleep in Amma’s arms. Extended first-person lines from Shay Tajsar, making her debut, lean into lyricism over precision (“I know candlelight shadows on a wall look like peacocks”). Thickly rendered mixed-media illustrations from Jain, meanwhile, strikingly capture the dreamlike state of the late-night ride. Includes an author’s note, which discusses the creator’s visits to South India, and an illustrator’s note. Ages 4–8. (Apr.)