BOSWELL WIDE AWAKE

Day (Follow Carl!, 1998, etc.) offers another appealing animal, Boswell Bear, in a quiet bedtime book. When the light of a full moon awakens pajama-clad Boswell, he takes a hushed tour of the house, performing thoughtful, day-end duties, such as shading the aquarium fish with the end of the curtain and granting the cat’s wish to go out. In illustrations awash with moonlight, readers see Boswell’s perceptions, then his reactions, in almost cinematic progression; the light left on in the kitchen awakens curiosity, curiosity leads to investigation, investigation reveals the slice of pie left on the counter, pie leads to a nighttime snack and the helpful rinsing of the emptied pie tin. Boswell accepts the responsibilities of his nocturnal actions with adult competence. He may interrupt retrieving the cat outside to toss a few hoops, but his patrol leaves nothing unattended to, right down to kissing his sleeping parents good-night so quietly they don’t awaken. Day’s portrayal of a small creature’s activities in the hours of the night usually off-limits to him results in a captivating book. (Picture book. 2-6)