Reframing the dark with 'The Night Walk'

The Night Walk by Marie Dorléans (Floris Books, 2018)Good to Read for:creating a calm atmospheredeveloping your child's sensesrelieving fear of the darkI love being out at night.

As a boy scout, I enjoyed camping under the stars and the thrill of night hikes. When my own kids were growing up, we'd go to the forest and onto the heath to discover the mysterious purring nightjars and glowworms. For me, the night is a place of wonder and intrigue, and walking in it is a tranquil experience.

So it's no wonder that I am drawn to the beautiful picture book, The Night Walk by Marie Dorléans (Floris Books, 2018). Dorléans captures the quiet mystery of night with watercolour washes of night-time blues. Everything is bathed in a soft, blue light that fills the pages and leaves you feeling embraced. It's a superb book for instilling wonder and appreciation – and the perfect antidote for any children who are afraid of the dark. Read on, and I'll share why.

The story begins in a dark bedroom where two children lie sleeping. A shaft of warm light cuts across the tranquil scene as their mother cracks open the door.

   

(Throughout The Night Walk, Dorléans ‘[interupts] the night-time darkness' with reassuring (yet sparse) light that emanates from lamps, windows – and finally the moon itself.)

 

"Wake up, you two," [Mama] whispered.

"Let's go, so we get there on time."

We got dressed without talking, our eyes half-closed.

It was the middle of the night.

 

How intriguing! 

As the family set off into the cool blue, Dorléans' prose alerts our senses to sounds and smells:

 

Outside, crickets chirped in the corner of the garden.

The summer air smelled of irises and honeysuckle.

 

Dorléans' attention to detail and gently paced text is so evocative. She describes the family walking through 'the sleeping village' with pavements ‘still warm from the heat of the day.' They pass a warmly lit hotel, still ‘wide awake…[and glowing] bright like a chandelier,' before reaching the edge of the village where the 'last house…was almost asleep. It had one eye open.'

(At this point in the story, readers will be feeling suitably calm.)

   

Now the adventure really begins. The family follow the road, past a field of resting cows, then deeper into the countryside. 'Little by little' (just as it is for the characters in the story), the reader's eyes become adjusted to the darkness. The hidden detail (and there's plenty of it) is meticulously drawn in pencil. But the trick Dorléans has pulled off, which makes The Night Walk so delightful, is that you must pause and let your eyes adjust – just as you would if you were taking your own night walk. 

It's worth the effort. Because when you do, night creatures, hidden by a cloak of darkness, 'emerge from the shadows.'

   

The path climbs higher. A flashlight goes on, and a distant train with its row of bright windows crosses over a viaduct:

 

[It] sliced through the darkness:

wheels shrieking, carriages shaking.

Then it was gone.

There was just us and the still silence.

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This is an excellent book for explaining the meaning of mindfulness: being in the moment, alert to sensations. The family are present, together, in the shared moments of their night walk:

 

We threaded through the whispering forest.

The earth was damp, the bark smelled comforting.

Dead branches snapped under our feet,

and ferns swayed quietly as we passed.

 

The forest opens up on a lake, where the kids (using Dad's flashlight) play with the moon's reflection. They lie together on the grass and gasp 'at the vast, glittering sky' where they stay, ‘until Papa [says], "Let's push on. We need to keep walking, so we get there on time."

Oh yeah! I was so engrossed in the moment and enjoying the night walk that I forgot they needed to get somewhere on time! 

 

We climbed up a hillside, picking our way from rock to rock.

"Hurry!" said Mama.

   

The sense of anticipation grows until finally, they make it to the top of the hill, just in time to watch the sunrise. 

 

"Ohhh!"

We sat quite still, warm together,

amazed by the light of a new day.

 

The Night Walk is described as 'a graceful, perfectly paced appreciation of nature' by Publishers Weekly. And it's a refreshing antidote to the many traditional stories/picture books that teach children that the dark is something to be feared. Here, the night isn't scary. Dorléans presents it as a friend who shelters quiet, gentle creatures. Walking at night (especially in the wild) is one of my favourite things to do. And I assure you – Dorléans has captured the atmosphere and sensations not only accurately, but beautifully. (The Night Walk was initially published in French – so credit due to the translator, Polly Lawson!)

The New York Times wrote that The Night Walk 'evokes a luminous sense of wonder.' I hope it inspires families to get out there on a night (or dawn!) walk of their own.

   STORIES WORTH SHARINGThe Night Walk by Marie Dorléans (Floris Books, 2018)Good to Read for:creating a calm atmospheredeveloping your child's sensesrelieving fear of the darkText & illustration excerpts © 2018 by Marie Dorléans
GOOD TO READ

Picture books that celebrate the night

Max at Night by Ed Vere

Once Upon a Northern Night by Jean E. Pendziwol & Isabelle Arsenault

Little Honey Bear and the Smiley Moon by Isobel Gamble & Tim Warnes

Owl Moon by Jane Yolen

I Love You to the Moon and Back by Amelia Hepworth & Tim Warnes

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 "This peaceful story is a great book to share at bedtime!"– Marathon County Public Library, GoodReads

"A moment of pure wonder and peace."– The Horn Book Review

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RELATED ARTICLESSOURCESThe Night Walk by Marie Dorléans (Floris Books, 2018) The Night Walk (Tasha’s Review, 23 April 2021) The Night Walk (publishersweekly.com)© 2022 BY TIM WARNES(UNLESS OTHERWISE ATTRIBUTED)****USE OF THIRD PARTY COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL FALLS UNDER FAIR USE/FAIR DEALING PRACTICE.