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Summary
Summary
Mrs. Insomniac's new job means the family must move twelve times zones away. They may love their new home, but adjusting to the time change is proving impossible. Mika and her parents try everything to fall asleep-sipping mugs of milk, taking hot baths, counting to one thousand-but nothing helps. So they decide to take a cue from their nocturnal neighbors. Venturing out into the dark, they discover a whole world still awake, and a surprising beauty in their new and unconventional schedule.
Ideal for bedtime reading, this gorgeous and lyrical story celebrates nighttime's mystery and magic.
Author Notes
Karina Wolf is a lifelong insomniac and a debut picture book author. Karina studied literature and film in New York, Paris and Dublin, and she works in television and film production. She lives in Manhattan with her dogs, Luca and Barry Manilow.
The Brothers Hilts are Ben (the older one) and Sean (the younger one). They work as a team illustrating, designing and constantly comparing to see whose ideas are better. They too are the products of an insomniac family and a long line of people who stay up late into the night. They now live and work in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Reviews (4)
School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 2-The spindly legged, pale Insomniac family-Mother, Father and little Mika-lead a regular diurnal life until Mrs. Insomniac gets a new job "twelve time zones away." Once they arrive at their new home, the family members live up to their name and goth visages-despite their efforts, they cannot fall asleep at night but snooze at work and school. Unable to rectify this dire situation by themselves, they venture out to observe animal sleeping habits for ideas. When they see bats "dipp[ing], div[ing] and squeal[ing] with delight," the Insomniacs decide that they, too, can lead a happy and fulfilling nocturnal existence, exchanging "the sun [for]...stars and fireflies and northern lights." Father develops his photos in a darkroom. Mother studies the stars through her telescope, and Mika goes to night school remotely. Reminiscent of the work of Edward Gorey, Charles Addams, and a certain Tim Burton-esque aesthetic, the art for this book forges its own style without feeling derivative. Full-page mixed-media (charcoal, pencil, and computer) illustrations are cleverly designed and depict the sepia Insomniacs against the backgrounds of saturated yellow for daylight, red for interiors, and deep dark blue for nighttime scenes. An offbeat (but satisfying) bedtime story for fans of quirky tales and nighttime adventures.-Yelena Alekseyeva-Popova, formerly at Chappaqua Library, NY (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Future fans of Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean will thrill to this after-dark debut from Wolf, with shadowy illustrations by Ben and Sean Hilts. After a move across "twelve time zones" to a new residence, the Insomniac family-Mother, Father, and daughter Mika-cannot sleep. Porcelain-skinned and spindly-limbed, the doll-like Insomniacs droop in blazing sunlight and only feel alert at night. When they hoist glowing lanterns to explore a moonlit winter forest, undaunted by forbidding silhouettes and reflecting animal eyes, they realize "the darkness was full of life." The three embrace sleeplessness, waking at dusk for "a breakfast of nightshade vegetables" and being first "to the bakery, where the dough rose with the sun." The Hilts' grainy illustrations allow for the eerie (chiroptophobes, beware the cave images when the family happens upon "a horde of mice hanging upside down"), and the dim ambience challenges human eyesight, yet their inky pared-down palette is enticing. Where most picture books say goodnight, this unusual entry gives the go-ahead to stay up late. Ages 3-5. Agent: Brenda Bowen, Sanford J. Greenburger Associates. (Aug.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
A quietly magnificent paean to the wonder of nighttime and the solidity of a family unit. Unlike picture books that use evening settings to address fears or coax kids into bed, this creative debut makes night-living a valid choice. The city-dwelling Insomniacs aren't originally "a night family. / But when Mrs. Insomniac found a new job, Mother, Father, and little Mika traveled twelve time zones to their new home," northern and remote. Hot baths and mugs of milk don't adjust their internal clocks. Perky all night and dozing all day, they seek counsel from their new neighbors: lynx, bears and bats. "And then the Insomniacs noticed: the darkness was full of life." Why force it? They decide to "give night a try." Mika keeps pets--a bandicoot and a fennec fox, among others--and attends night school online; Mother continues her (undefined) science career by studying night stars; Father develops photos in his darkroom. The family catches the bakery opening at dawn and then "bundle[s] into bed." Prussian blue dominates the offbeat pencil-and-charcoal illustrations, with whites and yellows glowing as moon, snow and lamplight. Figures are thin-armed and deliberate. Composition varies entrancingly, including full spreads, sequential boxes and dotted lines pointing to enlarged details. What first seems an eerie, baby-goth vibe is held steady by the stable, close-knit family and lack of crisis in this atmospheric, calmly splendid piece. (Picture book. 4-7)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Kids often wonder what they're missing while they sleep, which, in this title, is quite a lot, it turns out. The Insomniacs are nighttime people and have been ever since Mrs. Insomniac found a new job and moved her family twelve time zones away. Now they find themselves awake at night and ready for an eight-hour rest in the morning. It's a challenge to conform to society's sundown-sunup sleep schedule, and so, inspired by the habits of bats, they decide to embrace nocturnal living. When the moon rises, Mother tends to her cactus, Father develops photographs, and little Mika attends night school remotely while caring for her similarly nocturnal pets. The grainy, deeply shaded blue-and-black palette is beautifully illuminated by lanterns, the moon, creatures' eyes, and other things that glow. With varied perspectives and layouts, the story unfolds through sequential boxed images, spots, and full-page spreads. The characters, with their dark-rimmed eyes and spindly limbs, resemble nonscary Tim Burton creations and will speak to those who prefer their bedtime stories on the magical dark side.--Kelley, Ann Copyright 2010 Booklist