Book post: The House in the Night.

Book cover from Houghton Mifflin

Swanson, S.M. and Krommes, B. (2008). The house in the night. New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin.

*Winner of the 2009 Caldecott Medal*

The scratchboard illustrations in this book are detailed but in simple shapes to give the pictures a dreamy look. The art is beautiful with its black background and illuminations of gold on random objects. The gold focuses on items that should stand out and be familiar to small children as they observe the house getting ready for the night. I personally didn't find the story very engaging, but I can see this as a calming type of bedtime story. It would be a good art study for learning emphasis, one of the principles of design, since the illustrator does a great job of emphasizing with the gold watercolor details.