The Night Worker [ハードカバー]

Every night, Alex's night-working father kisses him good night, then puts on his hard hat and goes out to work. One night Papa surprises his son with his very own hard hat and invites him along. The mysterious world they enter is very different from Alex's daytime life. The streets are populated with delivery people, street sweepers, and dog walkers. But most exciting of all is Papa's construction site, where the rattle and clang of heavy machinery means that a big building is going up. Alex watches as the bulldozers, cement mixers, and cranes do their jobs, and he even gets a chance to be a night worker himself for a brief, shining moment!

Seen through a small boy's eyes, the construction site with its "midnight mountain" of soil and excavators that "groan like a giant rolling over in bed," is a truly wondrous, memorable event. Georg Hallensleben's heavy outlines and thick, muted nighttime colors melt together like liquid crayons. Alex's pride and curiosity in his father's life--and his father's reciprocal desire to share his adult world with his son--is touching and sincere. This is a lovely book for families to read together as a touch-off point for discussions about just what mom and dad do when they head off to work every day. Kate Banks and Hallensleben have teamed up on several other notable and award-winning picture books, including And If the Moon Could Talk. (Ages 4 to 7) --Emilie Coulter

Banks and Hallensleben, whose And If the Moon Could Talk prepared children for a calm night's sleep, stay up long past bedtime in this absorbing after-hours expos . Unlike Eileen Spinelli and Melissa Iwai's Night Shift Daddy (Children's Forecasts, May 8), in which a father works while his daughter rests, this account features a boy who accompanies his engineer father to an urban construction site: "And while Mama sleeps, Alex and Papa head quietly into the night." For one special evening, Alex wears a small red hard hat to match his father's big yellow one. He stands next to his father as a cement mixer and crane prepare the foundation for a city building. He even rides in a tractor to load dirt into a dump truck, before his father takes him home again. Hallensleben conveys the father and son's mutual pride and affection. Alex observes the workplace with alert brown eyes and a self-possessed half-smile; some compositions allow readers a look over Alex's head and down into the thrilling depths of a subterranean pit. The richly tactile, softly glowing paintings complement the solemn prose. Banks evokes the machinery's awesome strength and noisy engines as well as the quiet at break time: "All motion is stopped like a held breath." A mesmerizing description of a busy nighttime realm, illuminated by blazing headlights and framed by silent skyscrapers. Ages 2-6. (Aug.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

When darkness falls and bedtime comes, Papa tucks Alex in, then puts on his hard hat and goes to work. Papa is an engineer who works at night. "Take me with you," Alex says. "Not tonight," says Papa. But one night Papa has a surprise -- a hard hat for Alex! He takes Alex with him to the construction site, where excavators rumble and cement mixers hum. As his dream comes true, Alex gets to be a night worker just like Papa. Kate Banks's evocative text and Georg Hallensleben's colorful paintings combine to make a unique bedtime book that will delight all children, especially those who are fascinated by big machines.

Kate Banks and Georg Hallensleben have collaborated on several books for children, including And If the Moon Could Talk, winner of the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, and Spider Spider. Kate Banks lives on the French Riviera with her husband and two sons. Georg Hallensleben lives in Paris with his wife and daughter.