NOW IT IS MORNING

Three different settings for a child’s morning are covered in this book from Whitman (The Night Is Like an Animal, 1995, etc.). “The sun is coming up. It’s a brand-new day on the farm,” where children awaken to the rooster’s crow and begin their chores—gathering eggs, feeding animals. In the town, “way down the road,” parents wake by an alarm clock, and children rush to get ready for the school bus. In the city, a babysitter arrives to take over as the mother heads for work; the child then goes to the park. Readers are asked, “What do you do in the morning?” Diverse family configurations are shown in watercolor paintings; these were created, it appears, through a wet-on-wet technique that makes the boundaries of objects indistinct, as if they are glimpsed through gauze. The luminous scenes make the author’s point: there are many ways to start the day, no matter where morning arrives. (Picture book. 2-4)