When a boy’s dads are away, it takes a giant leap and night of adventure to bring them home. A tender dreamscape story from the author of Boyogi and the illustrator of We Could Fly.
As a little boy’s window glows warmly against the cold night, he gets tucked into bed while his dads enjoy an evening out. Sleep eludes him, weighted as he is with the feeling that he’s lost something. Then he suddenly spots outside his window . . . a pterosaur? Soon, the boy and the magnificent creature are off, swooping and soaring, searching the park, the river, the dark itself, until he finds what he’s looking for—and winds up back in his bed with his beloved dads beside him. In spare, evocative prose, David Barclay Moore conjures a wondrous nighttime journey, brought to luminous life in Briana Mukodiri Uchendu’s illustrations.
Dreamy first-person narration and immersive art define this sweeping picture book. . . . Spare, precise text from Barclay Moore (Boyogi) highlights anchoring landscape elements across the child’s search, and the conclusion comes satisfyingly full circle in highlighting the warmth of home and family. —Publishers Weekly
Moore writes this warm story about missing parents (not lost, but simply on a date night out) with lovely text, opening with an emotionally evocative line that sets the tone. . . . Uchendu’s digital illustrations portray a cold night in a big city with windswept art that seems to drop readers into a dream. . . . A great purchase to add to diversify collections, and an excellent text to use as a writing prompt in classrooms. —School Library Journal
Uchendu’s sweeping, blue-tinged aerial views have a hazy softness, pairing effectively with Moore’s gently contemplative narration for a portrait of a youngster creatively processing uncertainty. . . . Tenderly reassuring. —Kirkus Reviews
The text is poetic and sparse, evoking nighttime images with figurative language (“I want to snuggle beneath my blankets / like Moon behind her clouds”) which is complemented well by the digital art in dreamy pastel-like strokes and midnight blues. . . . Read this at bedtime for a sweet reminder of the importance of familial love with a Mesozoic twist. —Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books
David Barclay Moore is an author and filmmaker whose debut novel, The Stars Beneath Our Feet, was a John Steptoe New Talent Author Award winner and was optioned as a film by Michael B. Jordan. He is also the author of Carrimebac, the Town that Walked, illustrated by John Holyfield, and Boyogi: How a Wounded Family Learned to Heal, illustrated by Noa Denmon. Born and raised in Missouri, he now divides his time between New York and Los Angeles.
Briana Mukodiri Uchendu is an illustrator, visual development artist, and first-generation Nigerian American. She illustrated We Could Fly by Pulitzer Prize–winning musician Rhiannon Giddens, The Talk by Newbery Honoree Alicia D. Williams, Soul Step by New York Times best-selling author Jewell Parker Rhodes and Kelly McWilliams, and The Night Market by Seina Wedlick. Briana Mukodiri Uchendu lives in Houston, Texas.
When a boy’s dads are away, it takes a giant leap and night of adventure to bring them home. A tender dreamscape story from the author of Boyogi and the illustrator of We Could Fly.
As a little boy’s window glows warmly against the cold night, he gets tucked into bed while his dads enjoy an evening out. Sleep eludes him, weighted as he is with the feeling that he’s lost something. Then he suddenly spots outside his window . . . a pterosaur? Soon, the boy and the magnificent creature are off, swooping and soaring, searching the park, the river, the dark itself, until he finds what he’s looking for—and winds up back in his bed with his beloved dads beside him. In spare, evocative prose, David Barclay Moore conjures a wondrous nighttime journey, brought to luminous life in Briana Mukodiri Uchendu’s illustrations.
Praise
Dreamy first-person narration and immersive art define this sweeping picture book. . . . Spare, precise text from Barclay Moore (Boyogi) highlights anchoring landscape elements across the child’s search, and the conclusion comes satisfyingly full circle in highlighting the warmth of home and family. —Publishers Weekly
Moore writes this warm story about missing parents (not lost, but simply on a date night out) with lovely text, opening with an emotionally evocative line that sets the tone. . . . Uchendu’s digital illustrations portray a cold night in a big city with windswept art that seems to drop readers into a dream. . . . A great purchase to add to diversify collections, and an excellent text to use as a writing prompt in classrooms. —School Library Journal
Uchendu’s sweeping, blue-tinged aerial views have a hazy softness, pairing effectively with Moore’s gently contemplative narration for a portrait of a youngster creatively processing uncertainty. . . . Tenderly reassuring. —Kirkus Reviews
The text is poetic and sparse, evoking nighttime images with figurative language (“I want to snuggle beneath my blankets / like Moon behind her clouds”) which is complemented well by the digital art in dreamy pastel-like strokes and midnight blues. . . . Read this at bedtime for a sweet reminder of the importance of familial love with a Mesozoic twist. —Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books
Author
David Barclay Moore is an author and filmmaker whose debut novel, The Stars Beneath Our Feet, was a John Steptoe New Talent Author Award winner and was optioned as a film by Michael B. Jordan. He is also the author of Carrimebac, the Town that Walked, illustrated by John Holyfield, and Boyogi: How a Wounded Family Learned to Heal, illustrated by Noa Denmon. Born and raised in Missouri, he now divides his time between New York and Los Angeles.
Briana Mukodiri Uchendu is an illustrator, visual development artist, and first-generation Nigerian American. She illustrated We Could Fly by Pulitzer Prize–winning musician Rhiannon Giddens, The Talk by Newbery Honoree Alicia D. Williams, Soul Step by New York Times best-selling author Jewell Parker Rhodes and Kelly McWilliams, and The Night Market by Seina Wedlick. Briana Mukodiri Uchendu lives in Houston, Texas.
