Week Six: Nighttime

 

Everyone in the house is sleeping, but outside, the night world is wide-awake.
It's a wonderful night to explore!  Perfect for bedtime, this book from Caldecott Medalist Mordicai Gerstein celebrates the secrets of the night world and the joys of the sunrise.

It's evening in the forest and Little Owl wakes up from his day-long sleep to watch his friends enjoying the night. Hedgehog sniffs for mushrooms, Skunk nibbles at berries, Frog croaks, and Cricket sings. A full moon rises and Little Owl can't understand why anyone would want to miss it. Could the daytime be nearly as wonderful? Mama Owl begins to describe it to him, but as the sun comes up, Little Owl falls fast asleep.

First Possum hears it. Then Skunk. Then Wolf comes running."What could it possibly be?" asks Bat.

"Night Animals!" the animals declare.

"But you are night animals," Bat informs this not-so-smart crew.

Helpless Stellaluna falls into a nest of bird fledglings, where she is graciously accepted as one of the family — as long as she acts like a bird and doesn't confuse her adoptive siblings. The little bat does her best, but she can't help wanting to fly at night or hang upside down to sleep. The only time poor Stellaluna feels as graceful as a bird is when she's flying. Then one day, separated from her bird family, Stellaluna is discovered sleeping with her head up (as she's been taught) by a very surprised bat. It calls the other bats to come see this unusual little creature, and a happily awakened Stellaluna is reunited with her mother. When her bird family comes to visit her bat family, the versatile fledgling discovers that being bat-like is just as hard for baby birds as being bird-like was for her. "How can we be so different and feel so much alike?" one asks. "And how can we feel so different and be so much alike?" asks another. "I agree," Stellaluna responds. "But we're friends. And that's a fact."

“Does everything in the world go to sleep?” the little girl asks. In dialogue between a not-at-all sleepy child and understanding parents, the little girl decides “in a cocoon of sheets, a nest of blankets,” she is ready to sleep, warm and strong, just like a tiger.