Night Lights

by Susan Gal

The night is full of lights in this warm bedtime story.

Susan Gal tells the story of a child’s evening routine through all the different kinds of lights that shine in the night. From the porch light by the front door, to the firelight (and firefly light!) of a backyard cookout, and the candles on a cake, everything seems to glow in this warm and cozy book. When the lightning of a sudden summer storm sends the action inside, there is light there too—a bedside light to read by, a flashlight to make shadows with, a night-light to keep you company, and the moonlight for sweet dreams.

This reassuring reflection of a child’s world makes a wonderful bedtime story, and would be sure to soothe any lingering fears of the dark. A warm, friendly, shining debut from a very talented new author-illustrator.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Fiction, Animals, Nature, Storytime, Dogs

32 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Susan completed her BFA at Art Center College of Design and began her illustration career as a poster and calendar artist in Los Angeles. Her love of drawing lively characters earned her an internship with Walt Disney Feature Animation and she became a member of the original animation team at the Disney MGM Studios in Orlando, Florida. But the lure of the silver screen was not to last. Susan returned to her native California to continue her passion of creating whimsical illustrations and captivating picture books.

Reviews

[Kathryn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just a few words on each page with the illustrations telling most of the story, as we move from "streetlights" and a little girl getting home at night, to "firelight" with a camp fire in the back yard, to "night lights" at bed time. Cute idea, but the illustrations weren't really my favorite style so that probably kept this from being a four-star book for me.

[Sam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant delivery of a simple storyline!
My 6-year-old, who spends much time drawing, praised several details of the illustrations. From the first end cover, she was sold. To add to our delight ... we thrilled at a subtle inclusion of one of Gene Zion's Harry books depicted. Fabulous!

[babyhippoface · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super simple text, but a nice idea thread and some very nice illustrations. LOVE the raccoons caught-in-the-act!

[Annie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Minimal text (which is great, some picture book writers go on and on and on) and detailed illustrations to look at. Gal is definitely someone to keep an eye out for.

[Rose Rosetree · Rating 5 out of 5]

Clever concept here. Simultaneously this book:

* Tells the story of a preschooler's pre-sleep routine.
* And introduces readers to names (and concepts) for different sources of light.

In particular I admire the nuanced illustrations by Susan Gal. (She's both author and illustrator.) Although I'm no artist, I can appreciate how technically hard it must be to create these magnificent pictures that show different qualities of light, depending on the source.

Thanks, Susan. And, of course, I'm rating your book with FIVE STARS.

[Triston Dutschke · Rating 3 out of 5]

Night Lights would be a good book to cover for young children. It is far from challenging but offers beautiful illustrations. The overall idea of the book is going over the various lights you may see at night time. For example, your reading light or candle light. I would use this book as a refresher and relaxing book during school.

[SL · Rating 2 out of 5]

Absolutely adored the illustrations but the text was too simplistic for my taste. If the illustrations hadn't accompanied the words, it would've looked like a list describing the different kinds of lights. :/

[Shirley · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book for all ages! One year old loves the dog on every page (it's one of 15 books he'll sit for), three year old loves all the night lights, mom loves the illustrations.

[Ebony White · Rating 5 out of 5]

The illustrations in this book are wonderful. I found a review of this book here:
https://www.youtube.com/audio?v=1Ipq2...

[Adams' Country Retreat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Adored this book...wish I had written it.

[Gwen Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great for older little ones who can better relate to different types of lights. Busy pictures that play with light and dark make the book interesting to look at - but better for one on one reading.

[Darinda · Rating 4 out of 5]

A child’s view of lights at night - porch light, firelight, flashlight, etc. Minimal text with only a word or two per page. Charming illustrations.

[Y.Poston]

cute exploration of light at night

[Kristen Thompson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a story about a Little Red Hen who is trying to make a pizza. She realizes she does not have the necessary ingredients or utensils to make a pizza so she asks her friends for help. She continuously asks them for different things and they keep saying "NO". This book describes the utensils and ingredients that are needed to make a pizza and then shows how to make it. The book has a cute ending. This book could be used in a lesson on food and what ingredients you need or utensils, etc. This could also be used in a lesson on sequencing, or beginning, middle, and end since there are steps required in making something such as pizza. The students could also follow directions and make their own pizza!

[Amanda Zell · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved the pictures in this book for their coloring and the amount of texture in them.

The illustrator of this children's picture book did not waste an inch of the pages. There was no border surrounding the images around the edge of the page. There was very intricate detail using a variety of the different types of lines. All of the pages were in full color because it was night out. What I thought was most impressive, however, was the use of texture in each picture. There appeared to be a very rough texture to all of the pictures. It seemed as though you could "feel" the different items such as the couch or the rug.

[Kylee Myers · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is simply about lights. It names different types of lights. Streetlight, porch light, candlelight, firelight, lightning; any source of light that a child can imagine is in this book.

This book should only be used to teach about illustrations doing something for the literary piece. Because this book simply states different sources of light, it would not be interesting without the pictures to look at as you read. Students should take into account the ability illustrations have to keep people interested, even if the writing is not interesting. Students can implement the use of illustrations into their own writing to make it more interesting.

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

We follow a family through their evening from arriving home through turning out the lights for bed. Each page is illustrated in dark tones of blue, black and gray, except for the parts illuminated by the various night lights around. Porch lights, candlelight, firefly light, reading light, etc. I find these illustrations to be beautiful and charming, and my son enjoys talking about darkness and all the different ways to light it. He's never demonstrated a fear of darkness, and my hope is that books like this will keep it a friendly thing in his eyes. A great story with great visuals.

[Spike's Place · Rating 5 out of 5]

Click here to place a hold at the Stow-Munroe Falls Public Library

[Melissa Dwyer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Originally rated G by Lucy Thomas
Simple text with one or two words on most pages that accentuate the illustrations they describe. A nice story to read to younger students and to discuss the types of lights one can see as night time approaches. The 1st grade students enjoyed the story, the types of lights, and the animal characters. Purchase if interested in primary picture books about night and light.

[Sylvester (Taking a break in 2023) · Rating 5 out of 5]

5*+ art
5* concept

Even thought there are only a couple words on each page, there's a story behind them, and Squirt and I have fun talking about that. Besides, each night Squirt looks out his window and says goodnight to the houses and cars and trees and stars - and this book plays right into that - he sees the streetlights and porch lights and then his own night light, just like in the book. Lovely, lovely illustrations, too.

[Emilee · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a simplistic book for young children but it does it's job. My 3-K Class really enjoyed each page.

[Bridget R. Wilson · Rating 3 out of 5]

From street lights to starlight, one little girl explores all types of night time lights.


What I thought: A great concept. The text is uber simple--just the name of the types of light. The illustrations are the important part. They are great. Loved all the different patterns, textures, and shading.


Story Time Idea: pajama story time

[Kerri Harshaw · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is good for showing children different sources of light. The text is restricted to using only words naming a source of light on the page. This would be a good book to read to younger students, but could also act as a good resource (for science and spelling) in first or second grade when learning about sources of light.

[Miss Pippi the Librarian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful illustrations from charcoal and digital collage. The text is a one or two words per page in an interesting font. (They did not share the font style in the publishing notes.) Excellent book to create discussions from the images or the different lights used in one evening.

2012 Storytime Theme: camping
2023 storytime theme: lights

Reviewed from a library copy.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This quiet book shows young children all the different types of lights that help us in the dark. From streetlights to porch lights outside, to flashlights and bike headlights, to reading lights and bedroom nightlights: there are lots of types of lights to help us through the evening hours. This is a peaceful calming look at night time.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I put this on hold after falling for Gal's "Day by Day" earlier this year. I am equally charmed by this one. Works both as a list for younger listeners and as a wordless story for older ones. Great color, great details (the raccoons after the forgotten-outside marshmallows, the silhouette of the girl's body inside her nightgown in the bathroom light). Lovely.

[Nielson · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this new author/illustrators book, she tells a de"light"ful story of a child's nighttime routine through the many lights that she sees. There are street lights, night lights, star lights and good nights. This would be a good book to read to a child falling to sleep.

[Bookless00]

Gal uses the word light somehow on each page to tell this story of a girl and her dog getting ready for bed. A simple, graceful story illustrated with fabric patterns that invite closer inspection. Each time I look through the book I find something new in each picture.

[N · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Mama and her girl go through a well lit evening together... love the page where the daughter reads Harry the Dirty Dog to her pup.

[The Library Lady · Rating 4 out of 5]

Shadows and color is used very effectively here. The very simple text makes this usable with a young child, but there's enough here to hold older kids as well--details to look at and things to think about.