about the book
A young boy wakes up in the night to the meows of his cat. Sylvie wants to go outside and she’s not taking no for an answer!
Hoping not to wake anyone, the boy tiptoes through the house to let Sylvie outside. Shadows cover the landscape and the boy wonders at the shapes.
Are those the rose bushes? Is that shape a sunflower? If so, where did their colors go?
A deer, an owl, a porcupine, and rabbits appear as the landscape lightens up in the early, early, morning. “It’s coming,” they seem to murmur.
A bright burst of light brings all the color back to the landscape. The nocturnal animals disappear to sleep, while the boy and Sylvie return home to wake the household.
about the author/illustrator
Born in Los Angeles, California, Mordicai Gerstein’s parents expected him to become an artist: he started creating his own paintings when he was four years old.
Mordicai attended the Chouinard Institute of Art and left for New York City where he created original paintings and sculptures, worked on animated projects, and eventually began illustrating books.
Encouraged by friends who are authors and editors, Mordicai started writing and illustrating his own books. It took ten years to get his first one published, and now he writes for all ages—from preschool to adults.
You can find Mordicai at his home in western Massachusetts with his illustrator wife Susan and their daughter Risa. He’ll be the one poking and examining his surroundings. He’s still as curious as he was as a child.
Source:
Author/Illustrator website
Also by Mordicai Gerstein:
I Am Pan! Roaring Brook Press. 2016.
The Sleeping Gypsy. Holiday House. 2016.
You Can’t Have Too Many Friends! Holiday House. 2014.
The First Drawing. Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. 2013.
How to Bicycle to the Moon to Plant Sunflowers. Roaring Brook Press. 2013.
Dear Hot Dog. Abrams Books for Young Readers. 2011.
The Man Who Walked Between the Towers. Roaring Brook Press. 2003.
read more!
The First Drawing by Mordicai Gerstein
“Imagine…you were born before the invention of drawing, more than thirty thousand years ago.” You see animals in the clouds, in the rocks, and in the shadows of the fire. One day you see a woolly mammoth. You grab a charcoal stick from the fire and want to tell your family what you saw. The cave wall would be the perfect place to communicate your story. What will your family say about what you’ve made?
Flashlight by Lizi Boyd
This wordless picture book explores night and nature with the help of a ordinary flashlight. The world appears black and gray, but once the flashlight’s beam touches the darkness, it reveals all sorts of interesting colors and creatures, especially a gypsy moth!
Good Morning, City by Pat Kiernan
In the darkness of early morning, the city slowly begins to wake up, thanks to a few early risers—the baker, the garbage collector, and the dock workers. As the sky lightens, more and more city dwellers begin to rouse, including the school bus driver, the construction workers, the joggers, and the dog walkers. The newscaster greets those eating breakfast with news of the day and the weather. “Good Morning, City!”