Red Sky at Night

MacKay (Waltz of the Snowflakes) once again relies on inventive, diorama-style artwork to create a moving story. Here, she pairs rhyming folk wisdom about the weather with glowing spreads that follow a boy and a girl on an overnight adventure with their grandfather, first fishing from a boat, then camping by a roaring fire, and finally running home just before a storm breaks. Each scene is an atmospheric photograph of a miniature, three-dimensional set that MacKay has created from ink drawings and cut-paper figures. The subject of weather’s forces and intriguing visual perspectives, such as a view above and below the water’s surface, invite wonder about the natural world. The meaning in a few couplets is fuzzy, but the loving, multiethnic family at the center of this gentle intergenerational outing offers a strong focal point for a unique introduction to weather concepts. Ages 3−7. (May)