NIGHT KNIGHT

An upside-down colander becomes a knight’s helmet and a yawn becomes “ye olde yawn” when a small boy dreamer gets ready for bed.

Every spread of this visually stunning British import is suitable for framing. Hip, stylized, beautifully composed cut-paper collages (dubbed “digital media” in the small print) evoke the rich ornamentation of any self-respecting medieval fantasy, all saturated in a warm palette of deep gold, burgundy, rusts and oranges on what looks like handmade paper. The 70-word text itself chronicles the boy’s bedtime ritual in the briefest, most perfunctory fashion: “For a knight like me, going to bed… / is a great adventure,” the boy begins. The armored knight gallops on horseback past paintings and a hat rack, down the hallway of his family home, which gradually transforms into a wild wood, complete with a fox. His pre-bedtime bath involves navigating the tentacles of a giant squid. (The touchstone to reality is the bathtub plug that doubles as an undersea anchor.) The boy knight brushes his teeth while hopping atop the snapping jaws of crocodiles. When he finally climbs into bed (up a turret, of course!) and turns out the lights, he concludes, “Though it has been a great adventure… / even a knight needs a good night’s sleep.”

A visual feast for very youngest fans of knights and castles.