IN THE DARK

A quick survey picks out “wild and wonderful things that happen while you sleep.”

Betik opens in the bedroom, with explanations of circadian rhythms, REM and non-REM sleep cycles, and current theories about why we dream. She then ventures outside for looks at the eyes of cats, owls, and tarsiers; shows how certain creatures use tongues, whiskers, and other organs to compensate for the lack of light; and describes how plant metabolism changes when the sun goes down. Then it’s time to look up: at auroras and lunar phases; at planets and twinkling stars; at constellations, comets, and meteor showers. On every page, limited applications of color serve to illuminate the accurately rendered plants, animals, and astronomical phenomena in Holinaty’s squared-off panels and insets. His creatures are drawn in expressive poses, and human figures, though stylized, show a diverse range of skin hues. Readers may need to stretch to see the way plants allocate stored energy to get them through each night as “plant math,” but overall the author’s facts are straight as well as flashy enough to stick. Young STEM-winders may be more comfortable with this than Lena Sjöberg’s equally broad but more atmospheric Bright in the Night (2019). Specialized vocabulary is identified in boldface, spelled phonetically, and contextualized within the narrative, and a glossary in the backmatter pulls it all together for easy reference and review. (This book was reviewed digitally with 11-by-17-inch double-page spreads viewed at 56.5% of actual size.)

Illuminating insights for nocturnal naturalists.