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Comenoches
The illustrator of the highly acclaimed FRIDA makes a smashing debut as an author.
Every morning the Night Eater runs through the sky, gobbling up all the darkness. He eats cloudy nights as light and sweet as cotton candy, and deep dark nights that taste like bitter chocolate. His favorites are bright clear nights -- the stars tickle his nose as he swallows!
But what if the Night Eater doesn't come? Without him to devour the dark, the night animals won't go back to their dens . . . and the earth and all the people grow very pale and cold . Can they convince the Night Eater to return to the skies?
Spanish El comenoches
Every morning the Night Eater runs through the sky, gobbling up all the darkness. He eats cloudy nights as light and sweet as cotton candy, and deep dark nights that taste like bitter chocolate. His favorites are bright clear nights -- the stars tickle his nose as he swallows!
But what if the Night Eater doesn't come? Without him to devour the dark, the night animals won't go back to their dens . . . and the earth and all the people grow very pale and cold . Can they convince the Night Eater to return to the skies?
Spanish El comenoches
32 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2004
59 people want to read
About the author
Ana Juan
71 books36 followersAna Juan is an illustrator and painter.
After graduating in Fine Arts from Universidad Politécnica in Valencia (1982), she moved to Madrid at the height of the movida madrileña and in the early 1980s she collaborated with magazines such as La Luna and Madriz.
In 1991 she temporarily moved to Paris and exhibited in Geneve and New York; in 1994 she received a fellowship by the Japanese publishing house Kodansha and lived in Japan for three months.
Back in Madrid, in 1995 she started contributing to The New Yorker, for which she has designed more than 20 covers over the years.
In 1998 and 1999 she was awarded the Gold Medal (category: Illustration) by the Society of Newspaper Design and on September 24, 2010 she was awarded the “Premio Nacional de Ilustración” by the Spanish Ministry of Culture.
She currently creates her own books (texts and illustrations), exhibits her work all over the world (Spain, Mexico, Japan, Italy…) and contributes to many Spanish and international magazines. She has also illustrated many Isabel Allende’s book covers for Plaza e Janés (Penguin Random House), among which: Retrato en Sepia, Eva Luna, El cuaderno de Maya, De amor y de sombra.
After graduating in Fine Arts from Universidad Politécnica in Valencia (1982), she moved to Madrid at the height of the movida madrileña and in the early 1980s she collaborated with magazines such as La Luna and Madriz.
In 1991 she temporarily moved to Paris and exhibited in Geneve and New York; in 1994 she received a fellowship by the Japanese publishing house Kodansha and lived in Japan for three months.
Back in Madrid, in 1995 she started contributing to The New Yorker, for which she has designed more than 20 covers over the years.
In 1998 and 1999 she was awarded the Gold Medal (category: Illustration) by the Society of Newspaper Design and on September 24, 2010 she was awarded the “Premio Nacional de Ilustración” by the Spanish Ministry of Culture.
She currently creates her own books (texts and illustrations), exhibits her work all over the world (Spain, Mexico, Japan, Italy…) and contributes to many Spanish and international magazines. She has also illustrated many Isabel Allende’s book covers for Plaza e Janés (Penguin Random House), among which: Retrato en Sepia, Eva Luna, El cuaderno de Maya, De amor y de sombra.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 46 reviews
August 15, 2011
I was introduced to the art of Ana Juan recently, via her illustrations for Cat Valente's novel The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making. This is for younger readers and as far as I know Juan wrote the story as well. I didn't feel it quite worked, but it was certainly original and interesting, as are her lively and colorful illustrations.
The Night Eater follows the Moon. He gobbles up the elements of the night, fresh fizzy stars and chocolately darkness. But one day he notices that he has become immensely fat and decides to stop noshing. Without someone to consume the darkness there is no room for daytime, and the world is plunged into perpetual night. At first people enjoy the change of pace, but soon they start to get cold and the crops fail without light. The children beg the Night Eater to resume his work, and he does.
This has the feel of myth, but not the balance of a genuine folk tale. How does this cosmological system function? If the Night Eater has always had to eat all the night, why does he get so fat? Is there suddenly more night than there used to be? And his very serious-looking obesity is not solved in any way, he just gives up dieting and goes back to being a glutton. Shouldn't there be some message about moderation here? Myths usually explain something about nature, and this explains nothing.
The Night Eater follows the Moon. He gobbles up the elements of the night, fresh fizzy stars and chocolately darkness. But one day he notices that he has become immensely fat and decides to stop noshing. Without someone to consume the darkness there is no room for daytime, and the world is plunged into perpetual night. At first people enjoy the change of pace, but soon they start to get cold and the crops fail without light. The children beg the Night Eater to resume his work, and he does.
This has the feel of myth, but not the balance of a genuine folk tale. How does this cosmological system function? If the Night Eater has always had to eat all the night, why does he get so fat? Is there suddenly more night than there used to be? And his very serious-looking obesity is not solved in any way, he just gives up dieting and goes back to being a glutton. Shouldn't there be some message about moderation here? Myths usually explain something about nature, and this explains nothing.
December 21, 2019
3.5 stars
June 16, 2011
A very clever and creative way of looking at how night turns into day, with gorgeous pictures and imaginings. The Night Eater's job is to make sure all the parts of night are eaten up so the sun can wake everyone when it's time for morning. But one sly comment from the moon about the Night Eater's weight leaves everyone stuck in nighttime for several days, until the children of the world beg him to come do his duty. All is resolved by the end, with everyone realizing they like all bits of day and night, not just one or the other. The illustrations are key to this book--lush, sweeping images pour through the pages, creating a fabulous world with expressive people and heavenly bodies (the sun looks like you could hug him). Juan's descriptions of what the Night Eater tastes as he eats are intriguing and the joy everyone feels at the end is palpable. A must buy and read!
May 8, 2016
The story was nice and even if I didn't really liked the art, it worked well to depict the night, the day and the characters. The book had a small poetic touch that I enjoyed.
June 9, 2021
I would love to read more reviews that look at this book explicitly in terms of its treatment of diet culture and anti-fatness to see others' interpretations, but I felt like this book was actually pretty cool (if quite possibly triggering for a reader who has been fat-shamed).
The Night Eater (a soft pink creature with a fat body, a big smile, a long whimsical hat, and a long orange nose reminiscent of a commedia dell arte character) eats the night each pre-dawn to make way for the sun and day. The night is delicious, and the Night Eater loves eating it, but one day the Moon fat-shames him, and the Night Eater decides to stop eating entirely in response. The Night Eater's starvation "diet" results in never-ending night, which means people are cold, plants can't grow, etc., until finally the children look up at the sky and call out for the Night Eater. Opening his month to respond, a delicious star slips into his mouth and "It was so good, and so tasty, he forgot why he had refused to nibble." So, though the Night Eater doesn't explicitly express that he knows his body is perfect just the way it is, he does end his starvation then and there, which I take as a rejection of diet-culture in and of itself.
I think this book could be awesome to read and discuss with kids, breaking down how terrible it is when the Night Eater starves himself, how mean and not-okay it was for the Moon to criticize the Night Eater's body, and how wonderful it is to enjoy the foods we love.
Themes: Night, Day & Night, Food, Eating, Bullying, Body Justice
Age range: Preschool-Early Elementary
The Night Eater (a soft pink creature with a fat body, a big smile, a long whimsical hat, and a long orange nose reminiscent of a commedia dell arte character) eats the night each pre-dawn to make way for the sun and day. The night is delicious, and the Night Eater loves eating it, but one day the Moon fat-shames him, and the Night Eater decides to stop eating entirely in response. The Night Eater's starvation "diet" results in never-ending night, which means people are cold, plants can't grow, etc., until finally the children look up at the sky and call out for the Night Eater. Opening his month to respond, a delicious star slips into his mouth and "It was so good, and so tasty, he forgot why he had refused to nibble." So, though the Night Eater doesn't explicitly express that he knows his body is perfect just the way it is, he does end his starvation then and there, which I take as a rejection of diet-culture in and of itself.
I think this book could be awesome to read and discuss with kids, breaking down how terrible it is when the Night Eater starves himself, how mean and not-okay it was for the Moon to criticize the Night Eater's body, and how wonderful it is to enjoy the foods we love.
Themes: Night, Day & Night, Food, Eating, Bullying, Body Justice
Age range: Preschool-Early Elementary
August 15, 2018
This was an interesting book about an unknown entity called The Night Eater, who daily eats up the night and all of its stars. I enjoyed the illustrations, which covered all parts of every page, and depicted the night skies being eaten in a way that actually looked possible (possible for children to see). I enjoyed how the book showed the people of the town suffering from extreme cold weather, due to the fact that The Night Eater gave up eating the night skies at one moment. The message that I got from this is that both the sun and the moon are essential to our survival, and that we should not prefer one over the other.
February 18, 2019
This is a fantasy book. This book is definitely aimed toward lower el but it does have a good message behind it. This book reminds me of the movie Inside Out because it shows that everyone's role is just as important even when someone does not see the importance of it. The Night Eater was made fun of by the moon and in turn, stopped eating the night and the sun did not come out until he started eating the night again. This book would be good when learning about time with lower el when thinking about whether the time is AM or PM and what happens in between those two distinctions.
January 25, 2019
A kids book about how it is that the night goes away every morning. Kinda dumb.
January 29, 2020
The Night Eater simply describes how beautiful the nights can be and without the nights, there’s no sunshine, its dark and cold.
January 18, 2022
The art is the star here. The story gets a hard pass from me. There’s nothing like teaching our littles about fat shaming and disordered eating to send them to the Land of Nod, eh?
April 21, 2022
Muy lindo.
October 17, 2016
The Night Eater (Ezra Jack Keats Book Award for New Illustrator, 2005) This book creates beautiful imagery upon reading and encourages imagination and dreaming from all. Author and illustrator Ana Juan said this on her creating of The Night Eater, “One day, early in the morning, the sun rose and I took a look at the sky. The darkness was going away like smoke behind the buildings until it disappeared completely, so I started to think about where all this darkness was going... and the idea of The Night Eater came to my mind.” (http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/ar...) The Night Eater’s job is to make sure all parts of night time are eaten up and so that the sun can wake up everyone up for morning. The moon made a rude comment about the weight of The Night Eater, which leaves everyone stuck in the dark. The children of the world try and try to get the Night Eater to come back and do his job, and when he returns everyone realizes that they like a little bit of night and a little bit of day, not just one or the other exclusively. The Night Eater realizes his important place in it all. The illustrations are what really make this book a WOW book for me. They leave you examining every detail. Such a dreamy world is created that you’ll want to jump right in.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 5, 2012
3 stars for the story and definitely 5 for the art, rounding to 4. My son (he's 6) picked this as his library book and we read it together. The concept of the book is really great, that the Night Eater goes behind the moon, eating up all the night each day so the sun can rise. It's a simple and evocative idea for a child to connect with. And the art is just amazing. There are at least two pages I would like to stare at for hours, or frame and hang on my wall.
But the execution of the story is not quite right for me - my thought is, with a children's book the tone is very important. This is achieved just as often by what is not said, as what is said (think Where the Wild Things Are, with its deliberate use of both verbal and illustrative white space). There is also an important decision to be made whether the text should rhyme, or not, when read aloud. If it doesn't rhyme, I would like it to be as simple as possible, and straightforward. Especially when the art speaks volumes about the concepts and the story being told. This is just my taste in this kind of book.
I guess it's hard for me to say what it was exactly about the language that didn't quite work (for me). Perhaps it's not that the text did not work, it's more that it was not able to stand up to the magnificent imagery and stunning conceptual ambiguity of the artwork. Really, it is that good. I can't find any images to post so you'll have to check it out for yourself. It is provocative and surrealist in just the right way to appeal to children while still intriguing adults.
But the execution of the story is not quite right for me - my thought is, with a children's book the tone is very important. This is achieved just as often by what is not said, as what is said (think Where the Wild Things Are, with its deliberate use of both verbal and illustrative white space). There is also an important decision to be made whether the text should rhyme, or not, when read aloud. If it doesn't rhyme, I would like it to be as simple as possible, and straightforward. Especially when the art speaks volumes about the concepts and the story being told. This is just my taste in this kind of book.
I guess it's hard for me to say what it was exactly about the language that didn't quite work (for me). Perhaps it's not that the text did not work, it's more that it was not able to stand up to the magnificent imagery and stunning conceptual ambiguity of the artwork. Really, it is that good. I can't find any images to post so you'll have to check it out for yourself. It is provocative and surrealist in just the right way to appeal to children while still intriguing adults.
July 19, 2013
I purchased this book not only out of a desire to check out more Ana Juan and add a picture book by a leading Hispanic author-illustrator to my Spanish classroom, but because the cover illustration was so fantastically and creepily alluring. After having read the book with a number of children, I highly recommend it, for Juan's breathtakingly beautiful and dreamy artwork if nothing else. But the story is entertaining and endearing in its own right, following the trials and tribulations of the title character, whose daily duties eating up the stars and darkness in order to make way for the day leave him embarrassingly overweight and ashamed. He makes a decision to suspend his night-eating, which leads to all sorts of unwanted outcomes. In the end, it seems to teach the lessons of being yourself, having thick skin, and realizing your place in the grander scheme/community.
July 19, 2013
I thought this was a little strange, but it was still a nice story. The night eater is basically responsible for turning night to day and he does is again and again until the moon brings up how big he's getting, and the night eater decides he won't eat the night anymore. The night goes on too long, and children ask where he's gone. When he opens his mouth to answer he accidentally eats a tiny taste of night and like every addict a bite is all it takes to make him forget everything and start eating again. The night eater looks like a cross between a pink elephant, a clown, and a snowman, and he's always wearing a strange elf-like hat, but I suppose a kid wouldn't think twice about how strange that is. Might be a good bedtime story.
March 22, 2009
Delicious illustrations. This is a story about a creature whose responsibility is to eat the night away so that there is sun on earth. The moon criticizes him, alluding to the fact that he's getting fat, and he decides not to eat the night anymore. Of course, the unpleasant consequences of never-ending night on earth leads him to decide that he has a very important job and gets back to it. I could relate!
I have the tendency (very immature, actually) to quit if someone doesn't like what I'm doing. I can learn from the Night Eater.
I have the tendency (very immature, actually) to quit if someone doesn't like what I'm doing. I can learn from the Night Eater.
August 21, 2012
Wonderful illustrations and a very imaginative story. At first I thought it might be a bit scary to the kids (4 and 6 yrs old), but they really enjoyed it. The Night Eater sounds like a scary guy, but the story portrays how the Night Eater is necessary in the transformation of night to day, showing the Night Eater following the moon and trailed by the sun. The children in the book love the Night Eater. It is a gentle story and good for bedtime, dangling ideas of cotton candy and chocolate to seed good dreamtime.
July 30, 2017
The Night Eater eats the night as runs across the sky, chasing the moon and leaving his friend, the sun, to greet everyone with a new day. However, eating all that night causes him to put on weight and he decides to not eat another bite of night. Well, the night was everywhere and the sun was trapped and could not shine. Could the children convince the Night Eater to eat another tasty bit of night?
Great story for preschool storytime. Requires some explanation beforehand to explain what's happening, but the imagery is colourful and eye-catching (with something to see anywhere you look).
Great story for preschool storytime. Requires some explanation beforehand to explain what's happening, but the imagery is colourful and eye-catching (with something to see anywhere you look).
October 1, 2008
I only review kids' books if they're really wonderful and this is. It's a book about a dumplingish/trollish being who spends all evening eating the night until all that is left is day. Problems ensue when the buttons on his pants pop off and he diets (creating unending night). The illustrations are also wonderful, wonderful. We keep reading this over and over - I see many library renewals in our future.
March 10, 2009
Aptly named Night Eater eats the night so daylight can come. The moon makes a slight comment about his size, causing him to feel self conscious about eating so he stops. The result is a world without the sun. At first all enjoy the beauty of the night they have previously missed. It doesn't take long for everyone to miss the daylight. Illustrations evoke softness (almost like clouds, pillows, etc.), perfectly appropriate for a night story.
April 10, 2011
-Kindergarten and 1st grade
Night eater eats clouds of the night but gets picked on by the cloud because of his weight. He eventually goes back to eating the clouds because he is needed by everyone and the moon feels bad for his actions. This is a great book when teacher is dealing with bullying in the classroom or environment of the students. This can show them how it feels to be the person being picked on.
Night eater eats clouds of the night but gets picked on by the cloud because of his weight. He eventually goes back to eating the clouds because he is needed by everyone and the moon feels bad for his actions. This is a great book when teacher is dealing with bullying in the classroom or environment of the students. This can show them how it feels to be the person being picked on.
May 18, 2012
This book had excellent illustrations that were magical but also pretty creepy. Just what I would have liked as a child, but definitely not for every child. The story itself was a fabricated myth about why the cycle of day and night. For me the moment when night eater decided to take back up his old job was forced and half-heartedly done. Other than that, this would be good for a one-on one read but only if the child isn't easily scared or likes scary books.
October 31, 2015
I don't usually review kids books, we read so many that none usually stick in my mind but this gorgeous book sure did. I read it to my little three year old and it sparked so many thoughts in her little mind. the storyline us cute, but the star is the art. Oh wow, it just opened up so many creative discussions. It took (Sandlot reference!) forreevvurr. to read because she insisted in painstakingly examining each element and asking a ton of questions. It was awesome! Go get this book!
April 24, 2012
This is a great way to introduce night and day lessons to pre-k and kindergartners. It is also a great book for those who enjoy fantasy books, magic, and supernatural creatures. It also has a greek mythology feel so you can recommend it to students who enjoy myths. It would also make a great bedtime story. And is filled with great art for that artistic student of yours.
December 19, 2007
My son and I swap out half a dozen books at the library this week, and although many are cute and charming, few are true stand-outs. This one is an exception. The illustrations and story combine to make for a an exceptional and creative fantasy for little ones and adults to enjoy.
February 26, 2008
One of the most gorgeous children's stories we own. Helpful in my pursuit to teach our baby daughter Spanish (in addition to English and German) with a wonderfully creative and entertaining storyline. Illustrations are whimsical and heartwarming. A definite read for your little one!
October 5, 2009
This book is worth getting for the illustrations alone, round and clear and huggable. But as it happens, I like the story too and the image it creates of a being (you see him there!) that runs around gobbling up night so we can have day. It's such a fanciful idea, I just love it.
January 31, 2010
I liked this book because of the illustrations. This book was about a fictional character that eats the night.. and that's how it becomes daytime. After the moon makes a comment about how big the night eater got he stops eating the night.
July 4, 2012
A magical tale about the Night Eater, who takes a break from eating the stars and the night clouds. But without the Night Eater's services, the Sun can't come out in the morning. Somehow, the Night Eater must be persuaded to nibble up the night again. Exquisitely delicious story and illustrations!
August 28, 2014
This book was very cute. I enjoyed this book because it gives children a fun story to think about when going to sleep and waking up every morning, knowing the night eater would come daily! I loved all the color and quality!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 46 reviews