BRIGHT LIGHTS AND SUMMER NIGHTS

A snoozy tot embarks on a soothing journey to dreamland.

As bedtime arrives, a celestial fairy godmother—apparently created from stardust and boasting enviable fashion—ferries a child into dream-filled sleep. As the pajama-clad protagonist descends deeper into slumber, the country fairs and carousels that the little one conjures give way to more fantastical environs. The child is joined by a merry band of dreamers; together, they ride giant fireflies and rest atop gargantuan lily pads. The text—more poem than plot—offers a rhyming, rhythmic lullaby, spare enough to encourage rumination on the delights it describes. Stunning mixed-media illustrations invoke occasionally familiar imagery; young art lovers may recognize homages to Vincent van Gogh’s Starry Night and Claude Monet’s Water Lilies. Lush with verdant greens and bright with lemony yellows, the palette subverts the spate of blues and silvers traditionally associated with nighttime-themed fare, and both dreamer and setting emanate a warm glow from within. This effect proves more ethereal than eerie, evoking a serene nostalgia that complements the text’s tone. The voyage wends from pleasantly pedestrian to fantastical and transcendent; this is the kind of restorative dream one hopes to have. Both dreamer and fairy godmother present Black, while supporting characters vary in skin tone.

Few reads offer a more enchanting bedtime experience.