THE SANDMAN

Slung beneath a blue dirigible painted with golden stars, the lonely Sandman goes searching for a nocturnal friend in Heusser’s atmospheric debut. Unfortunately, everyone he approaches, from wakeful children to a burglar, from forest creatures to fish, promptly falls asleep. Of course. Dressed in exotic, vaguely Asian robes, the Sandman’s childlike figure adds an element of magic to the twilit, precisely drawn modern world through which he drifts. Scene after scene of peacefully dozing creatures (the policeman asleep on the burglar’s shoulder) set the stage for the listener to drift off as well, but not before reaching the happy conclusion. In the end, by looking beyond the earth, he finds the friend he seeks in the ever-wakeful Moon, who has been waiting for him to notice her faint smile. A simply told, quietly beautiful tale that will be equally welcome at story time, and at bedtime. (Picture book. 6-8)