Walking his dog at dusk, one boy catches glimpses of the lives around him in this lovely ode to autumn evenings, exploring your neighborhood, and coming home.
Before your city goes to sleep, you might head out for a walk, your dog at your side as you go out the door and into the almost-night. Anything can happen on such a walk: you might pass a cat, or a friend, or even an early raccoon. And as you go down your street and around the corner, the windows around you light up one by one until you are walking through a maze of paper lanterns, each one granting you a brief, glowing snapshot of your neighbors as families come together and folks settle in for the night. With a setting that feels both specific and universal and a story full of homages to The Snowy Day, Julia Denos and E. B. Goodale have created a singular book — at once about the idea of home and the magic of curiosity, but also about how a sense of safety and belonging is something to which every child is entitled.
Julia Denos is the illustrator of several books for children, including Grandma’s Gloves by Cecil Castellucci and Just Being Audrey by Margaret Cardillo. She is also the author-illustrator of Swatch: The Girl Who Loved Color. Julia Denos lives in Quincy, Massachusetts.
E. B. Goodale is an author, illustrator, and designer whose debut picture book, Windows by Julia Denos, received an Ezra Jack Keats New Illustrator Honor. She also illustrated Here and Now by Julia Denos and is the author-illustrator of Under the Lilacs. E. B. Goodale lives in Massachusetts with her family.
On dark winter afternoons, my kids and I tend to spend more time after school curled up reading under a blanket on the couch. This is partly due to the ingrained New England frugality that makes me resist turning the heat up too high—cue my father’s voice admonishing, “Just put on a sweatshirt!”—but there’s also […]
