GOOD NIGHT, MR. NIGHT

Yaccarino (If I Had a Robot, 1996, etc.) personifies the night sky as a starlit man in a bowler hat who brushes past the trees, closing flowers and calming seas in preparation for the arrival of night and a young boy's bedtime. Mr. Night closes the boy's eyes and whispers dreams; as the sun comes up, he grows tired, ``lies down just over the hill and drifts off to sleep.'' Simple forms and Matisse-like colors match the innocence of the story, told in a series of simple lines. Mushrooming shapes of color create waves of clouds, swirls of trees, and gobs of shadows that add up to a progression of expressive landscapes. Yaccarino's art is boldly stylistic, smooth and facile, boasting design and color composition as its strengths. Mr. Night's dark, star-covered shape provides contrast to each scene, as well as humor, e.g., he checks a glow-in-the-dark watch. The story would be lonely without these pictures, and takes on poignancy because of them; parents who work the lobster shift will find special meaning in these pages. (Picture book. 2-5)