Nocturne

by Isol, Elisa Amado (Translator)

Overview

Nominated for the Astrid Lindgren Prize

Nocturne: Dream Recipes is a unique bedtime book that hints at the magic inherent in dreaming.

Twelve glow-in-the-dark pictures present possible inspirations for a night in which the hidden world becomes visible. Just choose a dream from among the pictures and descriptions in the book, and then turn off the light to see a surprising glow-in-the-dark image. Included are dreams such as the dream of going far away, the boring book dream, the dream of the cat who smelled the tuna casserole, and even the drawn dream (which children can create themselves).

Once again Isol's extraordinary creativity and humor have produced a truly wonderful, very original book.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781554981793
Publisher:	Groundwood Books
Publication date:	09/01/2012
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	335,705
Product dimensions:	6.50(w) x 9.05(h) x 0.74(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Isol is an award-winning author and illustrator, who has been honored with the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award for her outstanding contribution to children’s literature. She is renowned for creating picture books, which, as noted in the citation from the ALMA jury, are created “from the eye level of the child.” She lives in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Visit Isol's website:
http://www.isol-isol.com.ar/

Visit Isol's blog:
http://www.isol-isol.com.ar/

ELISA AMADO is a Guatemalan-born author and translator. She has written My Friend (Mi amiga), illustrated by Alfonso Ruano; Un Barrilete para el Día de los Muertos / Barrilete: A Kite for the Day of the Dead; Cousins (Primas), illustrated by Luis Garay; and Tricycle (El triciclo), illustrated by Alfonso Ruano, which is on the Américas Award Commended List and is a USBBY Outstanding International Book. She lives in Toronto.

Editorial Reviews

Isol provides fodder for sweet (and sometimes not-so-sweet) dreams in a beguiling book built around glow-in-the-dark technology. As children lift each vertically oriented, spiral-bound page, Isol offers a loose sketch of a potential dream: a “boring book Dream” pictures a boy asleep with a book under a tree, while “The Dream of going far away” shows a lonely house on a hill. These scenes and others are imaginatively transformed in the dark when hidden images appear in phosphorescent green: frightening animals peer over the boy in the “boring book” scene (not so boring after all), while the house becomes a rocket to an alien world (complete with aliens) in the latter. Ages 4–up. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

... Nocturne is another brilliant example of the highly imaginative and engaging nature of Isol's work in children's literature (and is another strong example of why her work has been nominated twice for the international Hans Christian Anderson Award for children's literature)

CM - Keith McPherson

Long-listed for the Astrid Lindgren Prize, 2013

"Nocturne is another brilliant example of the highly imaginative and engaging nature of Isol's work in children's literature (and is another strong example of why her work has been nominated twice for the international Hans Christian Anderson Award for children's literature)." —CM Magazine

"Isol provides fodder for sweet (and sometimes not-so-sweet) dreams in a beguiling book built around glow-in-the-dark technology." —Publishers' Weekly

From the Publisher

This innovative title puts a spin on bedtime reading but ends up being more of a gift book with an interesting premise than a children's picture book that can deliver on its promise. Unique physical design is immediately apparent as a spiral binding at the top of the book invites readers to flip pages from the bottom, while the back cover folds out into a base that enables the book to stand upright like an easel. Introductory text says that "this book offers a list of possible dreams and inspiring visions that will guide your sleeping hours." Instructions for carrying out the "dream recipes" follow, telling readers to select a page, put it under bright light for five minutes and then turn out the lights to see the glowing "traces that the dream leaves behind" in order to then follow them in one's sleep. The dreamscapes have brief text introducing each scene: "The Dream of the dead singer"; "The cozy, warm Dream." The scenes themselves have spare illustrations that then reveal richer glow-in-the-dark-details. Design ultimately trumps the conceit, however, since child readers might hinge their expectations on actually having dreams inspired by the pictures. A clever idea, but one that is better suited to older readers as a gift book than to young children's bedtime routines. (Novelty. 10-14)

Kirkus Reviews