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 is a writer of fiction for both adults and children. Her highly acclaimed picture books include Percy’s Museum, illustrated by Carmen Mok; Night Walk, illustrated by Ellie Arscott; A Family Is a Family Is a Family, illustrated by Qin Leng (USBBY Outstanding International Books); and Maud and Grand-Maud, illustrated by Kenard Pak. She has also written This Is Sadie (adapted for the stage for New York City Children’s Theater) and the award-winning series of Henry books, all illustrated by Julie Morstad. Sara writes for children’s animation and teaches at Concordia University in Montreal. |
| Illustrated by |
ELLIE ARSCOTT has been sharing her love of color and paint with a wide range of clients for twenty years. She has painted scenic art for Toronto’s Young People’s Theatre and the National Ballet of Canada, and she has worked with the Toronto District School Board creating mural projects with school children. Ellie is currently painting a series of portraits for her own initiative, Girls Stand Tall, which encourages young girls to believe in themselves and their dreams. This is her first picture book. |
| 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, CCBC Choices, 2021
“
[A] touching book.
” —Montreal Review of Books“
This father-daughter tale is told with a sense of belonging.
” —Sal’s Fiction Addiction Blog“
The 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“
Praise for author Sara O’Leary and illustrator Ellie Arscott for Night Walk:
Winner, Crystal Kite Award, 2021
Commended CCBC Choice, 2021
“The sparse, lyrical text lends the book a cozy, poetic quality that is both soothing and whimsical. … A sweet rumination on family, home, and belonging.” — Kirkus Reviews
“The satisfying bedtime story will get young listeners ready for sleep.” — Horn Book
“Arscott’s line and watercolor art fully understands the Advent calendar thrill of sequences of windows with treasures behind … . Audiences will clamor to view their own nabes at night and see what they’re missing when they (reluctantly) hit the sack.” — Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books
“[A] subtly reassuring story about the wonder a child experiences when she becomes aware … she truly belongs.” — Canadian Children’s Book News
“Reading this may inspire families to take night walks of their own.” — Wall Street Journal
“[A] touching book.” — Montreal Review of Books
“This father-daughter tale is told with a sense of belonging.” — Sal’s Fiction Addiction Blog
“The book blends a sense of discovery with an equal measure of comfort and reassurance as the little girl reinforces her notion of what home and belonging mean to her.” — Your Local Journal Hudson
Praise for author Sara O’Leary and illustrator Qin Leng for
A Family Is a Family Is a Family:
“The broad diversity of family constellations is refreshing . . . A-plus fabulous.” — Kirkus, starred review
“Leng’s drawings of domestic life are, like O’Leary’s writing, winsome but never sentimental. Together they offer a straightforward, optimistic view of everyday modern life.” — Publishers Weekly, starred review
“A sweet and tender tale that shows that families are composed of love regardless of how they may be configured.” — School Library Journal, starred review