 | Nightsong Author: Han, Sally Soweol | |
| Price: $14.24 | ||
Summary:
After a long day in the big, noisy city, Lewis and his mother are on their way home when their bus breaks down, leaving them stranded along a quiet country road. With nothing to do, Lewis ventures into a nearby field and begins to notice different sounds all around him.
Reviews:
Kirkus Reviews (+) (03/01/25)
Booklist (+) (12/01/25)
The Hornbook (00/07/25)
Full Text Reviews:
Booklist - 05/01/2025 *Starred Review* A little boy visiting adult family friends in the city languidly listens to the “TICK-TOCK” of the clock and tunes out the “blah blah” of grown-up teatime conversation. After a long day, Lewis and his mother catch a bus home to the country. When a flat tire strands the passengers alongside a field, the child, out of sheer boredom, decides to put down his handheld gaming device and explore the surroundings. Keenly interested in and attuned to the nighttime chorus, Lewis hears “beetles BUZZ and critters ZIP.” The child claps his hands as “fish SPLISH and SPLASH in time to the creek’s burbling music.” Han’s spare, poetic text offers a sensory-rich soundscape: “SCURRY, CREAAAK, HOOT HOOT, HOOT.” In the striking black-and-white, hand-drawn and -painted illustrations, onomatopoeic words and sound effects pop up in primary colors, from the loud candy-apple red “BRUMMM” and “BEEEEP!” of the bus to the bucolic green “CHIRR CHIRR” of grasshoppers. Unexpected sources of joy are revealed to be close at hand—and ear—for those who pay attention: “The songs of the night play in Lewis’s head all the way home.” This well-orchestrated, harmonious celebration of the sounds of nature hits all the right notes. - Copyright 2025 Booklist.
