Night Walk by O'Leary, Sara (review)

O'Leary, Sara Night Walk; illus. by Ellie Arscott. House of Anansi/Groundwood, 2020 [200p] Trade ed. ISBN 9781554987962 $18.95 E-book ed. ISBN 9781554987979 $16.95 Reviewed from digital galleys R 5-8 yrs

When a girl can't sleep one night, her dad invites her to join him on a walk around the neighborhood. As the two walk "from one island of light to the next like explorers," the girl sees her neighbors inside their houses, eating, laughing, living their lives, in a way she doesn't during the day, and it reinforces her connection to her neighborhood ("I belong here and here belongs to me"). The journey and the tone of hushed discovery will be familiar to fans of Denos' Windows (BCCB 9/17), and there's additional pleasure here in Dad and daughter getting some togetherness time in a family where that's likely a rare treat. Arscott's line and watercolor art fully understands the Advent calendar thrill of sequences of windows with treasures behind; she never overplays the scenes, though, and balances the dramatic interior glow with homely details like a bike and hockey stick left carelessly in a front yard and power lines sprawling overhead. Audiences will clamor to view their own nabes at night and see what they're missing when they (reluctantly) hit the sack.