Little Night by Yuyi Morales

Morales, Yuyi. Little Night. New Milford, CT: Roaring Brook, 2007. Print. ISBN: 1-59643-088-5.

*Winner of the Golden Kite Award*

Brief plot summary:

Little Night (if taken literally) tells the story of a mother and daughter as they go through their evening rituals before it is time for bed. However, the story is really an analogy for Mother Sky getting Little Night ready to come out. First, Mother needs to bathe Night (in “a tub with falling stars”), then she needs to dress Night (in “a dress crocheted from clouds”), then she needs to feed Night (“from the Milky Way to drink”), then she does her hair (using hairpins Venus, Mercury, and Jupiter). Lastly, Night plays with her “moon ball” and the story is over.

Critical analyses:

Overall impression: Beautiful illustrations bring this tale to life.

This picture book, both written and illustrated by Yuyi Morales, represents Mexican culture authentically. Being from Mexico herself, Morales portrays the two characters non-stereotypically. In fact, Little Night is quite dark and might be mistaken for Black which is an issue faced by some darker-skinned Hispanic individuals. Dark-skinned children will appreciate being represented in a piece of quality literature.

Morales uses “[f]ull-bleed spreads with luminous and rich” painted “hues of evening sky–blues, reds, and pink...in flowing sweeps of color, which illuminate and animate the glorious text” (Okamura, 106). Morales somehow makes the illustrations seem almost 3-dimensional, adding to the abstract concept of “Mother Sky” and “Little Night.” Also, Morales sets the characters in a rural setting which accurately represents agrarian Mexico.

Review excerpts:

“Children will delight in Little Night’s dreamy world and will want to read about her unique, yet still familiar, nighttime ritual again and again.”

--Booklist, 2007

“Morales creates a tale in the folk tradition, but keeps the fantasy grounded in the familiar routines of a little girl and her mother as they play their ritual games at bedtime.”

--Kirkus, 2007

Connections (related books, activities, children’s responses, etc.):

Related readings: other books about Latino tales (http://ccb.lis.illinois.edu/bibliographies/latino_2004.html), other books by Yuyi (http://www.yuyimorales.com/2.htm) (also could use the Spanish version of the book along side this one)

Activities: kids could discuss Latino culture and how their tales relate to other culture’s tales

Children’s responses: I read on a Goodreads review by a teacher that her children like to look for Little Night each time she hides. She likes to hide from Mother Sky each time she is trying to get her ready for bed, so on some pages she is peeking from behind something.

References:

Okamura, DeAnn. "Little Night." School Library Journal 53.5 (2007): 106. Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts with Full Text. Web. 3 Oct. 2015.