NIGHT LIGHTS

Cazet is still working the night shift he began in Mother Night (1988), and continued in ``I'm Not Sleepy'' (1992) and Dancing (1995). This time it's verse, and most of it zany—a nice change from similar collections, which tend toward the lyrical. There's the child who insists he's ``Not Afraid of the Dark'' but only needs that searchlight by the bed to read—and, coincidentally, to keep scary creatures (and his sister) at bay; the child who gives ``Good-night Kisses'' to everyone and everything in the house—and then begins all over again with hugs; the child who is afraid of the ravenous Murphy bed at his grandparents' house; and the siblings who take turns putting horrible things in each other's beds. There's the wolf who learns to count sheep—in his favorite recipes; the cat who hears the siren song of the night and rouses his mistress by crying, ``Me out''; and Gertrude Holstein, who dreams of being an Olympic pole vaulter and jumping over the moon. Bracketing this wild and crazy stuff are a few serious poems, e.g., the title poem, about the security of the presence of a loving parent. Pencil and watercolor illustrations—sometimes soft, sometimes more pointed and full of comic visual asides—are exactly right for the various moods. (Picture book/poetry. 7-11)