Every Single Night

Anne Hutchings, a former elementary-school teacher-librarian with the
Durham Board of Education, is an educational consultant.

Simon’s bedtime preparations never vary. Every single night he puts on
his pajamas, drinks his milk, washes up, and brushes his teeth. He
fluffs his pillow, folds the blankets down just so, then carefully
crawls into bed. But Simon can’t sleep until his father performs their
nightly ritual of putting the world to sleep. As his dad slowly pulls up
the covers, first to Simon’s feet, then his knees, his tummy, his
shoulders and finally, all the way, his dad recites the magic words.
With poetic language, he lulls the creatures of the continents, the
oceans, and the sky to sleep, leaving only the fairies to keep watch
over all. Then, and only then, does Simon sleep.

Nicolas Debon’s remarkable illustrations emphasize the lyrical
quality of the text. The scenes of Simon’s bedroom, in dark oranges
and browns, alternate with the images evoked by father’s words,
highlighted with purples and blues. Young readers will pore over these
illustrations and delight in picking out the African animals, the
whales, giant turtles, jellyfish, and seahorses of the oceans, and the
caribou, seals, and wolves of the polar regions.

Preschool and primary children will be comforted and reassured by this
gentle story, just as Simon was comforted and reassured by his nightly
ritual. But parents beware—this bedtime story may lead to a new
nightly ritual: reading Every Single Night every single night. Highly
recommended.