Twilight

by Holly Young Huth

"It's twilight!" the little girl announces to the city. "It's twilight!" As the keeper of the twilight, she must busy herself with the things that come before the day changes into night. So in a... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0689819757
• ISBN13: 9780689819759
• Release Date: October 2000
• Publisher: Atheneum Books
• Length: 32 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 9.3" x 11.3"
• Age Range: 3 to 8 years
• Grade Range: Preschool to Grade 3

Customer Reviews

Magic hour

I've reviewed a bunch of picture books in my day, but somehow I've never had the chance to comment on anything illustrated by David McPhail. This isn't born out of some anti-McPhailian malaise or anger at the prolific artist in any way. I've just never come across anything he's done. That is, until now. Because I am a Manhattan librarian I often have to field requests from patrons who are looking for picture books about Manhattan, Brooklyn, and any other borough that happens to come to mind. Slowly and studiously I've been locating and reviewing every Big Apple-centric book I can find. It was only a matter of time before I stumbled across "Twilight". A lovely tribute to both a city and an oft ignored time of day, author Holly Young Huth lucked out when she happened to get McPhail's beautifully lit watercolors paired with her words. It makes for a lovely read and an even better look. As our book begins, a small girl is thrilled to declare exactly what time of day it is. "It's twilight", she shouts to her mother and the people she passes on the street. Her mother laughs and tells people that her daughter is, "the keeper of twilight". And though they laugh, it may well be the truth. Soon enough she must check on the "faraway places" that time comes to before the dark. With that, the girl soars up and away. She shines and polishes the stars but tells them, "It's not time". She reads the sun a bedtime story and silences a pack of wolves that jump the howl-at-the-moon gun. Finally, the moon is persuaded to rise and the girl drops gracefully to the ground beside her mother where, "the lights of the city sparkle all at once like a thousand dressed-up stars". And now it is night. "She's wasn't in charge of that". Balancing both a lovely plot for kids and inspired descriptive language, Huth's book particularly excels when it comes to perfectly placed descriptions. "Up beyond the tall buildings the sky was not a color you could say, but it was soft. And it held fast to its light as if waiting for permission to be night". As for the story, kids will love the concept of a child like themselves flying into the night to take responsibility for something as grand and all-encompassing as a time of day. There's a gentleness to this tale that cries out for further readings. That and the pictures. The lovely lovely pictures. Now when I said that I'd never reviewed a David McPhail book before, that wasn't to say that I had never read one. In fact, "Pig-Pig Grows Up" is probably one of the most amusing readaloud picture books to grace the storybook scene ever. With "Twilight", however, McPhail has taken especial care to do two things: show the effect light has on the bustling city when the sun is low in the sky, and give tribute to the landmarks of New York City. Showing every landmark from the Empire State Building to the barely glimpsed Twin Towers (the publication on this book was 2000, for the record), "Twilight" acts as a fitti

Dreamy & delightful!!

On a beautiful night in the city, a young girl runs up the street with her mother. "It's twilight!" she exclaims to the man in the bakery, to the couples in love holding hands. She is the keeper of twilight, and it's her job to transition the day into the night."'I'm in charge of the twilight here and there and everywhere' the little girl keeper announced." Then, in a marvelous, dream-like sequence, she floats high above the city to polish the stars, read the sun a bedtime story and caution the creatures of the night that it's not QUITE time to wake up and begin their day, they need to wait for full night. She flies through the darkening skies, between the tall buildings with pelicans coming home to the bay to eat. She persuades the moon to rise, peeking up over the horizon and casting long shadows across the Statue of Liberty in the harbor."Twilight" is a beautiful, dreamy book, masterfully constructed in both text and illustration. The story is soft and almost mysterious--the little girl is never named, so she could be any child with an active imagination and a love of twilight. The illustrations are full page and very detailed in watercolors and pen & ink. The colors are muted evening shades of purple and oranges, perfectly showing the encroaching night as day fades away on the city. Though the city is crowded (what city isn't?) there is a coziness and sleepiness to the story as everything slowly winds down for the night in the city.The story is easy to read and certainly sparks the imagination of the reader. The story is easy enough that a beginning reader can tackle it, and it's engaging and timeless that far more advanced readers (like, say, some ADULTS!) will love to revisit this story over and over again... Especially right before bedtime!!