Fly by Night

by Randall Jarrell, Maurice Sendak (Illustrator)

During the night while everyone sleeps, a little boy floats up from his bed and flies through the house and the countryside beyond.

Genres: Fiction, Poetry, Childrens, Fantasy

30 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 1976

About the author

Poems, published in collections such as Little Friend, Little Friend (1945), of American poet and critic Randall Jarrell concern war, loneliness, and art.

He wrote eight books of poetry, five anthologies, a novel, Pictures from an Institution . Maurice Sendak illustrated his four books for children, and he translated Faust: Part I and The Three Sisters , which the studio of actors performed on Broadway; he also translated two other works. He received the National Book Award for poetry in 1960, served as poet laureate at the Library of Congress in 1957 and 1958, and taught for many years at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro. He joined as a member of the American institute of arts and letters.

Reviews

[Mir · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a pleasant, gentle little piece about a boy who [in dreams, one assumes] flies out of bed at night and visits the animals. It was not as fantastical or interesting as I had hoped from the description and that fact that it was illustrated by Sendak, but it was certainly pleasant enough. I preferred Jarrell's The Bat-Poet in both concept and prose.

[Alexandra Chauran · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a longer bedtime story, about 15-30 minutes depending on how you read it. I really love it. The boy floats through a dream state, experiencing the loss of control and memory that was scary when I was a kid in a way that normalizes it. The animals in the story have hauntingly riddle-like rhymes. It got slow in the middle with the owl's bedtime story, but overall is a book I would like to own.

[Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 Stars rounded up to 5 Stars.

[Linda Lipko · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a poetic gem of a small book and was the final collaboration of Jarrell and Sendak before Jarrell's passing.

By day David is lonely, living in a cottage at the edge of the woods with no play mates. By day, David's life is filled with wonderful images and animals and in his dream he flies throughout the countryside seeing and knowing the thoughts and feelings of the creatures.

[Paula · Rating 5 out of 5]

In our dreams, we fly. We need to remember how!

[Amy Farn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oddly captivating children’s tale with beautiful illustrations by Maurice Sendack.

[Brice Fuqua · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very slight book. Notable more for Sendak's illustration than for Jarrell's text.

[Cheryl · Rating 2 out of 5]

Didn't work for me. Maybe because I've never had a good experience when someone meets me at breakfast and says "Let me tell you about this extraordinary dream I had."

My rating is my own personal reaction. I do look forward to re-reading the 'companion' book, The Bat-Poet.

[Davide Ariasso · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another jewel by the pair Jarrell/Sendak. In this one, the words are simpler, and the story is very basic, compared to The Bat-Poet and The Animal Family, but there is again so much understated and enchanted poetry. Poetry of childhood and of nature. This two men's sensibilities are astounding, and I just wish there were more works by them together. Sendak' drawings here are eerie and pure, and perfectly convey the trance of dream life.