Nocturne

by Jane Yolen, Anne Hunter (Illustrator)

In this poetic lullaby, a boy and his mother on a midnight stroll encounter fireflies, moths, owls, and many other magical sights before the boy's mother tucks him into bed with his dog nestled on a rug next to him.

Genres: Picture Books, Poetry, Animals, Childrens

32 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 1997

About the author

Jane Yolen is a novelist, poet, fantasist, journalist, songwriter, storyteller, folklorist, and children’s book author who has written more than three hundred books. Her accolades include the Caldecott Medal, two Nebula Awards, the World Fantasy Award, three Mythopoeic Awards, the Kerlan Award, two Christopher Awards, and six honorary doctorate degrees from colleges and universities in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Born and raised in New York City, the mother of three and the grandmother of six, Yolen lives in Massachusetts and St. Andrews, Scotland.

Reviews

[Rachel Driscoll · Rating 4 out of 5]

From the opening of "In the night, in the velvet night, in the brushstroked bluecoat velvet night..." Jane Yolen paints a story of a mother and young son venturing out for a walk in the silent world of night. Anne Hunter's illustrations are gorgeously rendered Impressionist-style paintings. At the story's end, the boy is safely, "...tucked up under eiderdown..." and entering lovely nighttime dreams.
"Nocturne" is an example of Yolen's great gift for poetic language and imagery to evoke scenes from the natural world. Her use of simile ("Moths flutter up, flutter down, like wind-up toys, without the noise"), alliteration ("...in the quilt down, quiet down velvet night"), and metaphor ("...a big moon balloon floats silent over trees...") would be great examples to use during any study of poetry in a classroom from K-8.

[Marilyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quiltdown, quietdown, velvet night...what wonderful words!

[Peacegal · Rating 3 out of 5]

A celebration of night falling upon the natural world.

[Sandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This felt like the wonder bread of children's books. It was't bad, it wasn't good. Night fell on the land...

[Marya · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unlike other picture books that feature bouncy-bouncy iambic rhyme, this one has unstructured poetry spaced out on darkly colored pages. Surprisingly, my little one loved it. Maybe it's the soft dark pages that are appropriate for night time, or maybe it's because the lack of rhyme really makes you focus on the other qualities of the poem (such as its assonance). This is one that we both enjoy, though I wouldn't have guessed that when I picked it up.

[Jana · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book would be a terrific one to share with young readers at bedtime. A parent and a child take a walk in to the nighttime world around their house and get to see the wonderful bits of life that they never get to see during the day. Beautiful, poetic language along with stunning paintings really make this book something to savor. In the end the child snuggles into bed with the dog sleeping on a rug beside it, to drift off too sleep dreaming about the wonders of the night.

[Janet · Rating 4 out of 5]

The text and illustrations depict nightime very well. There is an infrequent repeating phrase that if precise and exquisite "in the night,in the velvet night. The illustration of the porch light turned on and many moths attracted to it is a perfect depiction of that happening. This is a really good nighttime book.

[twilightcay · Rating 5 out of 5]

i bought this book for my sister when my nephew was born last year. the illustrations are incredible, and it has a pefect lullaby rythym. its still noah's bedtime book.

[Savannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

A sweet bedtime story my kids (toddlers in particular) could read over and over. So simple.

[Bvlmc Buchanan Verplanck Elementary School · Rating 3 out of 5]

Simple poetic verse describes the quiet activities of the night as the world snuggles down to sleep.

[Emerson and Theodore · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very lovely drawings with watercolor. At night a boy and his mommy go exploring to study the nocturnal animals and bugs. This fuels the boys dreams.