Twilight Comes Twice: A Beautiful Free-Verse Picture Book Revealing the Magic of Everyday Moments for Kids

by Ralph Fletcher, Kate Kiesler (Illustrator)

Free-verse text describes the transition from day to night and from night to day, revealing the magic in these everyday moments.

Genres: Picture Books, Poetry, Realistic Fiction, Childrens, Fiction, Poetry Plays, Nature

32 pages, Hardcover

First published October 20, 1997

About the author

Ralph Fletcher is a friend of young writers and readers as well as writing teachers. He has written or co-authored many books for writing teachers includng Writing Workshop: The Essential Guide, Teaching the Qualities of Writing, Lessons for the Writer's Notebook, Boy Writers: Reclaiming Their Voices, and Pyrotechnics on the Page: Playful Craft That Sparks Writing. Ralph has worked with teachers around the U.S. and abroad, helping them find wiser ways of teaching writing.

Ralph's many books for students include picture books (Twilight Comes Twice, Hello Harvest Moon, and The Sandman), novels (Fig Pudding, Flying Solo, and Spider Boy), poetry (A Writing Kind of Day and Moving Day), and a memoir, Marshfield Dreams: When I Was a Kid. His novel Uncle Daddy was awarded the Christopher medal in 2002. He has also written a popular series of books for young writers including Poetry Matters, Live Writing, and A Writer's Notebook. Ralph lives with his family in New Hampshire. He is a strong environmentalist who believes we all must work together to live in a more sustainable way. His other passions include travel, good food, dark chocolate, growing orchids, and sports.

Reviews

[Tatiana · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is books like Twilight Comes Twice that elevate the genre with beautiful, evocative prose that brings the going-ons of dawn and dusk to vivid life. I featured it for descriptive writing, and it was hard to pick just one or two examples to share with my college class of pre-service elementary teachers (I think they were already sick of my examples) to illustrate descriptive writing. And speaking of, the illustrations are soft and muted, like the colors of a sunset or sunrise. A new favorite.

[Dolly · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful book...both for it's poetry in words as well as in pictures. The book has gorgeous illustrations and short stanzas of poetry that are easy for children to understand. A great book to read at bedtime!

[Pam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Told as a full book poem. Fletcher explores the two times during a day when readers experience twilight lightness. Illustrations bring the two points in a day to life.

[Lexi · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Twilight Comes Twice” is a captivating book about the almost poetic differences between dusk and dawn. At dusk, the author tells of dusk deepening the colors of the world around you and pouring the syrup of darkness into the forest. We also learn that dusk is the signal for the night to be born while dawn is like a seed that will grow into daylight. Dawn is also described as the invisible arms that erase the stars in front of the blackboard of night. The illustrations in this book are beautiful scenes of a young girl and her dog outside at both times of day enjoying dawn and dusk as the book describes.
I was drawn to this book from the title and I was not disappointed. The descriptions and pieces the author gives you of dusk and dawn are so poetically beautiful and descriptive to where we as the reader can easily imagine ourselves right with the little girl in the illustrations enjoying the twilight. The illustrations were just breathtaking and too detailed.
I will be adding this book to my classroom in the future. I think that kids would have a newfound admiration for dusk and dawn because of reading this book, making them more self-aware of the world around them. I think I could use it in my curriculum in a unit on describing words because the words the author chooses are such perfect descriptions that help you picture things in your mind.

[McKenzie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This beautifully illustrated book by Ralph Fletcher and Kate Kiesler tales the story of dusk and dawn. Throughout the book it tells the story of the changing day as well as the many activities that come along with the day. The illustrations are beautiful and captivating. The colors used help further tell the story and set the tone. This book would be a wonderful one when discussing figure language in books. This book is full of metaphors, similes, and personification of the world around us. This is definitely a book that would best be read with the teacher and the students but I do feel as if it would spark a lot of insightful conversation about literacy and the meaning behind phrases.

[Libby Forgues · Rating 5 out of 5]

Illustrator: Kate Kiesler
ISBN-10: ‎ 0395848261
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Clarion Books; Library Binding edition (October 20, 1997)

This book has stunning illustrations and writing. This would be a great book to use to teach what good writers do with language. The book features brief poetry stanzas that are simple enough for kids to grasp, along with stunning images. When talking about figure language in literature, this book would be a great choice. This book is jam-packed with personifications, similes, and analogies about the world we live in.

[Tori Parker · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Twilight Comes Twice" by Ralph Fletcher is a poetic exploration of the beauty and transitions of twilight. Through lyrical language and evocative imagery, Fletcher captures the magical moments when day merges into night and night gives way to dawn. The book celebrates the quiet marvels of nature's changing rhythms, inviting readers to pause, reflect, and find solace in the shifting hues of the sky. With its soothing prose and enchanting illustrations, "Twilight Comes Twice" is a meditative journey that inspires wonder and appreciation for the fleeting moments of twilight.

[Miss Pippi the Librarian · Rating 3 out of 5]

I used the beginning of the book for storytime and found an ending spot in the middle of the book. Twilight is at the end of the day as well as the beginning of the day, but we were focusing on twilight at the end of the day. It's a longer book for storytime, but I like the content. There is an illustration and two short poetic paragraph were layout. Occasionally, it's one or three paragraphs in the layout.

2022 Storytime Theme: Twilight

Reviewed from a library copy.

[Vanessa Richards · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a sweet book about how Twilight comes twice. This book talked about all of the characteristics of sunset and sunrise. So many different creatures were talked about and it talked about how pretty the environment was during these hours. This book would make a great read-aloud since it talked about details we sometimes overlook.
Author: Ralph Fletcher
Illustrator: Kate Kiesler
Publisher: Clarion Books October 20, 1997

[Julia Reny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fletcher was able to explore the two times during a day within his writing that makes it so readers can experience twilight lightness- dusk and dawn. I really liked how calming and easy to understand it was. I believe that this would be very good to incorporate into students' lives at any age, especially because of its use of metaphors, similes, and personification.

[Heather Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Twilight Comes TwiceRalph Fletcher i love how this book rhymes

[Sharla Bazen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Genre: Picture Book

Unique feature: The water color illustrations are incredible in this book. The message is beautiful and peaceful and really allows the reader to use their imagination to go beyond the page of a book.

Grade level suggested: 2-4

[Lauren Hay · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is very calming and peaceful because of its poetic nature and use of descriptive words, making the reader visualize beyond the pictures. It also contains beautiful watercolor illustrations. This book would also be a great tool to teach children about weather patterns and time.

[Alicia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like the natural aspect of this book! Comparing the two elements of the sky as Dawn and Dusk. Great descriptive language. The illustrations are beautiful all throughout and definitely highlights the story and I completely recommend this book!

[Nicholas · Rating 4 out of 5]

The illustration in this book was amazing. The colors, shading, and just overall picture each page has it just really relaxing and cool to look at. The story was fun and this book would be a popular book in the classroom.

[Emily Riggs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Free-verse text describes the transition from day to night and from night to day, revealing the magic in these everyday moments. The illustrations in this book are absolutely breath-taking. Definitely a good book for when teaching children about the transition from day to night and night to day.

[Keann Moncrieffe · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought this book was great at telling its readers about dawn and what happens during these times of the day. I think children would like the illustrations, and I like how this is a poetry book because I would love to add more to my poetry collection.

[Brittney Cayford]

This is a great poetry-written in free verse book that can go along with sunrise and sunset timelines, as well as seasons, and weather. This book talks about the little moments that occur during the day throughout the night- creating a relationship between day and night.

[Sage · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a great bedtime read for children. You can read it in your class or at home. It has beautiful pictures, and the story is just as wonderful. I really enjoyed reading this book. I had never read it before and was quite amazed by it.

[Zoe Austin]

Twilight Comes Twice by Ralph Fletcher is a simple yet evocative exploration of the transition from day to night and night to day. It could be used in class to introduce concepts of time, nature, and the changing sky, providing a calm and reflective moment amidst the day's activities.

[Alexandra Cotter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love the illustrations in this book! Describes the transitions from day to night and night to day and how special it really is. Definitely a book I would add to my classroom library.

[M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book -- the writing is very poetic as it compares the twilight hours of evening and daybreak. The illustrations are muted and perfectly suited to the colors of those liminal times of the day. This is a very good book to read aloud to students, especially as the days grow shorter during the autumn months.

[Sarah N · Rating 3 out of 5]

(3 1/2 STARS) A pleasantly poetic book about twilight.

[Devynn Turner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amazing illustrations for an interesting topic book! Beautiful written, very calming for some reason.

[Michelle Hatch · Rating 4 out of 5]

Picture Book-Beautiful illustrations and a nice story. Could use to talk about weather patterns/sunrise and sunset.

[Tam Newell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great text to use in both reading and writing for sensory details.

[Lindsey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book with great use of language and words. Thought it was a bit slow to read, but had fabulous pictures and descriptive writing.

[Ashlyn Fitzgerald · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good illustrations that look very hand done.

[Annie Jewell]

This book has very strong illustrations that children would love. It also nicely shows the sequences of the day in a way children can understand.

[Bella Herrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a read that was very calming and easy to understand. The imagery and art was very nice and soothing. It was a very unexplainably nostalgic book