The Lights and Types of Ships at Night by Dave Eggers (review)

There’s no dearth of picture books that walk kids through the nomenclature of train cars, construction equipment, trucks, things that fly, things that float. Now take that concept, set it in darkest night, illuminate it, and give it the wry Eggers humor treatment, and you have a transcendently engrossing introduction to ships that invites viewers to compare their visual and utilitarian splendors. Direct address text is immediately engaging and teasingly silly: “You may have heard of the sea. It’s when water gets together with a plan to surround us.” Eggers works his way through a flotilla of vessels, convincing listeners that they’ve just reached the zenith of waterborne conveyance, only to hype the next contender and leave the last in its wake. How does one bring this exercise in oneupmanship to conclusion? With the traditional, trusty bedtime book invitation to sleep—here, aboard a houseboat: “And when a floating home has dimmed its lights, when everyone inside is ready to sleep, there is nothing prettier, nothing happier, nothing better anywhere on the sea.” In Dills’ stunning digital artwork, shapes of the vessels are defined or sharpened by the illumination of onboard lights, star- and moonlight, and shimmering reflections in the water, without which the craft might just disappear into the surrounding darkness. For children determined to stay awake a little longer, Dills tucks an ebony image of a seal (named Fatima) into the dark water of each spread for them to find. Appealing to viewers and listeners, children and adults, readers aloud and readers alone, this should become a family favorite.