Here Comes the Sun
Karl Newson and Migy Blanco
Nosy Crow
‘In a treetop way up high, / Little Owl blinks / and rubs an eye.’ So begins an entrancing tale of one small nocturnal bird, who spreads her wings and flies forth with a mission: to extinguish each and every star in the night sky. As she goes, she passes all kinds of snoozing creatures both great and small: there’s Mouse and Squirrel, Giraffe and Elephant,

Bear curled up in his cave and Tiger atop a cliff, ‘Swooping, looping, left and right, / wishing every star/ goodnight.’ Then on past Whale and Penguin, now in pursuit of an elusive shooting star

that leads her over woods and waterfalls, seas and sands, jungles and swamps to that very last shining star.
With a final puff, the job is done, every star has gone: just in time for the sun to rise. Then all those sleeping animals begin to stir, stretch, yawn, wash and feed.

A new day is dawning but for Little Owl, it’s time for a much-deserved sleep.
Superbly somnolent sounding, Karl Newson’s gentle tale has just the right ingredients for a bedtime read aloud: a languid rhyme with repeated refrains, and a hypnotic rhythm; and I love the whole notion of blowing out the stars.
Migy Blanco’s captivating animal characters stand out beautifully against the inky night skies and the landscapes.