Creatures of the Night
Stephen J. Brooks
Illustrator: Roger Wilson
Purple Sky

Entertaining Read ... Highly Recommended ... 5 stars

'Creatures of the Night' begins as long shadows form, day is ending and night is soon to come. The moon and stars appear, daytime animals seek shelter and night creatures venture out. Raccoon, a regal barn owl, field mice, crickets, and singing toads and frogs all join the nighttime adventure. Dancing lightening bugs, a coyote, a mother opossum and her babies, and swimming muskrats walk and jump and run. At last the night creatures begin to seek safety, the sun is returning and day will soon begin.

Author Brooks and Illustrator Wilson have produced a delightful work for children. 'Creatures of the Night' is a 32 page picture type work. The narrative is told in verse. Illustrations are child friendly.

I took the book to school to read to my fourth grade: they are my resident critics. They take their job as critical listeners very seriously. The children expressed curiosity, regard and interest in the book. They liked the poetry, the narrative and the illustrations. One girl felt the smiles on faces of the insects were inappropriate…. ‘real’ insects do not have smiley faces, however she felt the illustration was appropriate for this book, ‘it IS for little kids.’

While the target audience for the 'Creatures of the Night' is more targeted to the 3 – 7 set, it is a work that holds appeal to the 8 – 10 group as they choose a book to read to younger brothers and sisters. 'Creatures of the Night' is a read-to for the younger set ages 3 – 7, a read alone for the 8 – 10 group.

I too enjoyed the narrative, the illustrations and the poetry. Because I live ‘out in the country’ the critters mentioned in this book are all very familiar to me. I am finding Creatures of the Night to be a worthwhile addition to our class library shelf. 'Creatures of the Night' is being taken for ‘free reading’ time by youngsters who are reading and enjoying it for themselves as they ready themselves to read to the kindergarten children each Monday.

'Creatures of the Night' is a good addition to the homeschool reading curriculum, the classroom library and children’s personal reading shelf.

Enjoyed the read, happy to recommend.