What's in the Dark?

What's in the Dark?
Carl Memling ~ pictures by John E. Johnson
Parent's Magazine Press, 1971

I personally love books that deal with nighttime and the dark. A few of my favorites... Switch on the Night, The Moon Jumpers and There's a Nightmare in My Closet... Here, I love the deep, dark blue of the illustrations and the quiet understanding of the world at rest around the sleeper. My son gets truly snuggly when we read this book together. It's so peaceful and full of wonder.

What's in the dark?
After they've clicked the light off
And everybody's said goodnight,
What's in the dark?
The pants that you wore today,
Your shoes, your socks, your T-shirt--
They're in the dark.

Your crayons in a jumbled pile,
The new ones, used ones, broken ones--
They're in the dark.
The radiator under the window
Makes a jiggety shadow
On the wall
In the dark.

Around the house and soon out the window into the world, up to the sky, we hear about all the soft, silent, wonderful things that happen in the dark. One of my favorite things to do if I wake up in the middle of the night and can't go back to sleep is sit out on my front porch and watch the world NOT go by. All the night things that happen when no one is looking. This book certainly casts that spell.

(Plus, these sleepy houses remind me of the "Talking Houses" on The Muppet Show. Super cool!)