"Tick hum, oven's on.
Pots and spoons are clanging.
Hoot, hoot, mince pies for Fox.
Badger wants a sandwich."
What a collaboration this new book is! Eric Fan has penned a story about the lunch wagon that travels Victorian streets throughout the night bringing food and comfort to the animals who live nocturnal lives there. Through textured, intriguing nighttime scenes, the Night Owl travels slowly and quietly, encouraging the creatures to come forward and assuage their hunger and thirst.
They are a menagerie of familiar visitors who line up to order the fine meals provided by the chef, a huge and capable owl, and whose talents allow for variety in the dishes he creates for his many customers. Fox gets a mince pie, Badger a sandwich. The menu at the Night Owl cart is extensive and appealing.
"One two, just like that -
sausages and peppers.
One two, just like that -
butter rolls and biscuits."
Sure to make any hungry stomach growl as meals are described and presented, readers will wonder at the creatures as they arrive to partake of all the owl has to offer them. Then, with the sky brightening and the time to shut down nearing, a tiny mouse sits trembling by a wall as he is too shy to order and has not found the scraps that would stop his stomach from rumbling. It will not be lost on children that this is a meeting between an owl and a mouse. What happens next is quite wondrous and inspiring for all readers.
Beautifully told with striking vocabulary and exceptional digital artwork, this is a quiet book to be savored as the sun dips low and children tuck in to cozy beds.
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