Baby Badger's Wonderful Night

The night doesn't seem so wonderful to Baby Badger when this bedtime story opens. "It's too black and scary," he says, clinging to his father, too afraid to go to sleep. But as Papa Badger takes his son through the woods and into the meadow, he points out all the lovely nuances and reassurances offered by the nocturnal world (the stars "light up the night sky... and keep us from feeling alone"). Baby Badger comes to realize that Papa is on to something: "The night is magical... it's full of stars and colors and wishes." First-time author Saunders's text is literal to a fault, but there's not much of it, and its murmuring tones will probably make an effective soporific. Croatian illustrator Kolanovic, meanwhile, does marvelous things with soft, intricate textures: her air and sky sparkle and shimmer with colors, almost making the hush of night palpable. And she gives readers two adorable protagonists: the highly stylized badgers have endearingly outsize snouts and tiny dots for eyes; their fur, created with long strokes of warm gray, brown, and white, looks downy and cuddle-worthy. Ages 2–up. (May)