A child explores her neighborhood on a late-night walk with her dad, finding delight and comfort in moments of quiet and the warm windows into other people’s lives.
When a little girl can’t sleep one night, her dad asks if she’d like to go for a walk. They tiptoe through the silent house and step out into the dark.
It’s strange and exciting to be out so late. Walking down the street, the girl can see inside the lit-up windows of apartment buildings and houses where people’s lives are unfolding. Kids are having a pillow fight in one house, while a family has gathered for a festive meal in another. She and her dad reach the still-busy shopping area, walking past restaurants and enticing store windows, then stop for a tranquil moment in the park before returning home.
Sara O’Leary has captured a child’s nighttime wonder as she explores her neighborhood and comes to the comforting realization that she belongs. Ellie Arscott’s illustrations, luminous and rich in color, perfectly complement the story.
Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.6
Identify who is telling the story at various points in a text.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.1
Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.
A child explores her neighborhood on a late-night walk with her dad, finding delight and comfort in moments of quiet and the warm windows into other people’s lives.
When a little girl can’t sleep one night, her dad asks if she’d like to go for a walk. They tiptoe through the silent house and step out into the dark.
It’s strange and exciting to be out so late. Walking down the street, the girl can see inside the lit-up windows of apartment buildings and houses where people’s lives are unfolding. Kids are having a pillow fight in one house, while a family has gathered for a festive meal in another. She and her dad reach the still-busy shopping area, walking past restaurants and enticing store windows, then stop for a tranquil moment in the park before returning home.
Sara O’Leary has captured a child’s nighttime wonder as she explores her neighborhood and comes to the comforting realization that she belongs. Ellie Arscott’s illustrations, luminous and rich in color, perfectly complement the story.
Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.6
Identify who is telling the story at various points in a text.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.1
Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.
| Published By | Groundwood Books Ltd — Sep 29, 2020 |
| Specifications | 32 pages | 8.25 in x 10 in |
| Keywords | belonging; exploration and adventure; discovering neighborhood; child's perspective; parents and children; different perspective; nighttime wonder; bedtime story; new experience; neighborhood and community; appreciation; respect for community; child as narrator; first person narration; connecting; visualizing; imagining; Common Core aligned; CC Literature Key Ideas and Details; CC Literature Craft and Structure; grade 1; grade 4; picture book; Toronto; imagining parents as children; |
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Supporting Resources
(select item to download) |
Teacher's Guide |
| Written By |
SARA O'LEARY, an author of books for children and adults, has won the Vicky Metcalf Award for Literature for Young People. Her notable picture books include A Family Is a Family Is a Family (USBBY Outstanding International Books) and A Kid Is a Kid Is a Kid (TD Canadian Children’s Literature Award finalist), both illustrated by Qin Leng, and The Little Book of the Little Brontës, illustrated by Briony May Smith, praised by SLJ for its “exquisitely crafted text.” Sara lives in Bridgewater, NS. |
| Illustrated by |
ELLIE ARSCOTT grew up in a small Ontario town drawing everything she possibly could. She found her way to and graduated from Sheridan College’s Interpretive Illustration program. Night Walk, Ellie’s illustration debut, was awarded a SCBWI Crystal Kite. Ellie lives in Toronto’s east end with her family.
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| Written By |
|
SARA O'LEARY, an author of books for children and adults, has won the Vicky Metcalf Award for Literature for Young People. Her notable picture books include A Family Is a Family Is a Family (USBBY Outstanding International Books) and A Kid Is a Kid Is a Kid (TD Canadian Children’s Literature Award finalist), both illustrated by Qin Leng, and The Little Book of the Little Brontës, illustrated by Briony May Smith, praised by SLJ for its “exquisitely crafted text.” Sara lives in Bridgewater, NS. |
| Illustrated by |
|
ELLIE ARSCOTT grew up in a small Ontario town drawing everything she possibly could. She found her way to and graduated from Sheridan College’s Interpretive Illustration program. Night Walk, Ellie’s illustration debut, was awarded a SCBWI Crystal Kite. Ellie lives in Toronto’s east end with her family.
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| Audience | ages 3 to 7 / grades P to 2 |
| Reading Levels |
Fountas & Pinnel Text Level L
Guided Reading L |
| Common Core |
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.1
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.6 |
Winner, Crystal Kite, 2021
Commended, Cooperative Children's Book Center, CCBC Choices, 2021
[A] touching book.
” —Montreal Review of BooksThis father-daughter tale is told with a sense of belonging.
” —Sal’s Fiction Addiction BlogThe satisfying bedtime story will get young listeners ready for sleep.
” —Horn Book[A] subtly reassuring story about the wonder a child experiences when she becomes aware … she truly belongs.
” —Canadian Children’s Book News