Hannah's Night (Gecko Press Titles)
PreS-Gr 1—The wee hours of the morning take on a magical quality in this pitch-perfect picture book. A preschooler wakes in the night to find that her sister and parents are asleep, so she tours the house accompanied by her cat, Shiro. She indulges in illicit thrills, like eating some cherries "without asking" and borrowing her sister's drawing paper and pencils. Balancing the forbidden with a sense of safety and comfort, this understated book, originally published in Japan, hits just the right note for preschoolers. Spare text perfectly complements the hazy, scratchy, blue-tinged illustrations that slowly expand to capture Hannah's hushed reverence for the night.—Kathleen Kelly MacMillan, Carroll County Public Library, MD