Flashlight

by Lizi Boyd (Author)

Flashlight
Inside a tent it's cozy. But what is going on outside? Is it dark? Is it scary? Not if you have your trusty flashlight! Told solely through images and using a spare yet dramatic palette, artist Lizi Boyd has crafted a masterful exploration of night, nature, and art. Both lyrical and humorous, this visual poem--like the flashlight beam itself--reveals that there is magic in the darkness. We just have to look for it.
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Hardcover
$16.99

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Kirkus

Starred Review
Contemplative children will spend hours on each page, noticing such subtleties as reappearing animals and the slowly rising moon over the course of one night in the forest.

Publishers Weekly

Boyd follows Inside Outside (2013) with another wordless picture book, this one about a boy's nocturnal backyard explorations. Working in gouache, Boyd paints on vast expanses of black, outlining the boy (who could easily be the same one from the previous book) and his surroundings in a muted gray-blue; using a flashlight, he aims a cone of white light high and low, creating pops of color amid the darkness. He finds a lost boot, spots bats overhead and mice underfoot, and notices a porcupine in the crook of a tree, among other discoveries. While the book clearly demonstrates just how much animal activity takes place at night, Boyd's goals aren't strictly naturalistic. After the boy drops his flashlight, it's retrieved by the very animals he found before; one by one, they turn the flashlight's crisp beam on him, observing him just as he did them. Once again, Boyd showcases a child who is fully capable of educating and entertaining himself with only a few simple tools (a camping tent, a flashlight) at his disposal. Ages 2-6. Agent: Liza Pulitzer-Voges, Eden Street. (Aug.)

Copyright 2014 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.

School Library Journal

Starred Review

PreS-Gr 1--A wandering boy investigates the night in this wordless picture book. Bold black backgrounds feature outlines in grays, whites, and muted greens of trees, stream, plants, and animals. Each page discloses in full color something formerly hidden via the stream of light from the child's flashlight. Readers discover flags on a treehouse, apples on the ground, and a deer. In a fun twist, when the flashlight drops, various creatures take turns shedding light on the boy. A luna moth flutters on each page, waiting to be discovered. This elegant book serves to alleviate fear of night noises, instigate talk of nocturnal creatures, or bring calm as a bedtime story.--Gay Lynn Van Vleck, Henrico County Library, Glen Allen, VA

Copyright 2014 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Review quotes

 
Lizi Boyd
Lizi Boyd is the author and illustrator of many children's books, including Inside Outside, and also creates papers, ribbons, cards, and other works of delight. She lives in Vermont.
Classification
Fiction
ISBN-13
9781452118949
Lexile Measure
-
Guided Reading Level
-
Publisher
Chronicle Books
Publication date
August 12, 2014
Series
Junior Library Guild Selection
BISAC categories
JUV029000 - Juvenile Fiction | Nature & the Natural World | General
JUV032170 - Juvenile Fiction | Sports & Recreation | Camping & Outdoor Activities
Library of Congress categories
Stories without words
Night
Boys
Flashlights
Kentucky Bluegrass Award
Nominee 2016 - 2016

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