ALL ABOARD THE MOONLIGHT TRAIN

Not sleepy? Then grab your ticket to the ride of a lifetime.

Young railroad enthusiasts with a reluctance for bedtime will heartily embrace this gentle trip on the ultimate animal train line. A small, Asian-presenting child reaches from a locomotive-shaped bed to snatch a ticket from the air, which spirits them to a train where “wild things await,” quite literally. Whether it’s the toucan ticket taker, the elephant working the engines, or the warthog waiters in the dining car, there’s something to enjoy around every corner. And after all the delights have been sampled, the train drops the child off, safe and sound, at home with a final “Good night, good night, Moonlight Train!” Won infuses her art with lighthearted, luminous energy. There is the titular moonlight, certainly, but also starlight, the light of hot coals, and cozy interior lamplight. Sharp-eyed spotters will enjoy finding the animals strewn about the child’s bedroom that show up on the train and its line at various times. Rhyming text maintains a regular rhythm in keeping with a chugging nighttime train. Every four-line stanza, with the exception of the last, ends with the call “All aboard the Moonlight Train!”—and sleepytime readers will be hankering to obey.

Part zoo, part train, all bedtime.