Product Description

Imagine a night when you can ride your bike right up the stairs to your bed. Imagine a night when your toy train rumbles on its tracks out of your room and roars back in, full sized, ready for you to hop on for a nighttime adventure. Imagine a night when a farmer plays a lullaby on his fiddle, and his field of sunflowers begins to dip and sway to the rhythm. Imagine a night when ordinary objects magically become extraordinary...a night when it is possible to believe the impossible.

With the intrigue of an Escher drawing and the richness of a Chris Van Allsburg painting, renowned Canadian artist Rob Gonsalves depicts that delicious time between sleep and wakefulness, creating a breathtaking, visual exploration of imagination and possibility that will encourage both children and adults to think past the boundaries of everyday life, and see the possibilities beyond.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #92272 in Books
• Published on: 2003-06-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 40 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780689852183
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From School Library Journal
Grade 4 Up-Magical realism permeates Gonsalves's large acrylic paintings, and they are essential to the lyrical text. For "imagine a night when-you can hear a farmer play his fields to sleep," the artist depicts a man playing a fiddle on a porch in front of a field of sunflowers-but no, the flowers have human faces, leafy bodies, and green-gloved hands, and they are bowing their heads in sleep. A painting of children riding their bikes up a flight of stairs accompanies "imagine a night when you might find that gravity doesn't work quite as you expected." A girl walking in a church cloister suddenly looks over her shoulder and discovers that she's not alone, as the pointed church windows become hooded monks forming a procession. In the back of the book, each painting is repeated in miniature with its actual name. This is a fascinating foray into the imagination and a fine discussion starter for older children. For another look at things that are not what they seem, pair it with Guy Billout's Something's Not Quite Right (Godine, 2002).
Marianne Saccardi, Norwalk Community College, CT
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author
Sarah L. Thomson is the author of The Dragon's Son (praised on VOYA's Best Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror 2001 list) and Stars and Stripes: The Story of the American Flag. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Customer Reviews

Very imaginative book!
Based upon a series of paintings by Rob Gonsalves, the author has magically created a book of transformation. The paintings and the text are both wonderful and work very well together. This book would be inspiring to anyone. It is imaginative, creative and uses rich language...something important for the development of children into good writers. I intend to use this book in my classroom for an interesting writing assignment that will also require the students to delve into their imaginations.

4 and a half but willing to be generous
I gave this book 5 stars to balance it with the 4 that I gave his other book; Imagine a Day. Both books are awash with the same wonderful surrealism. Its a trip to another world on par with Escher. Unfortunately the trip is far too short, only 16 paintings. His two books should be combined to one in my opinion but other than that a great experience.

Wonderful art!!!
The art in this book by Rob Gonsalves is wonderful!! It is filled with imagination and an awesome use of unusual, yet clever, perspective. Figures emerge from nature, buildings emerge from canyons, priests emerge from cathedral windows...the list goes on and on. The limited text in the book is more of a reflection of the paintings rather than the other way around. I didn't need the text for the book to inspire me. If I were rating the text alone, it would be so, so. The paintings are what make this book spectacular! The book should be considered for most all age groups. Even though it appears to be geared more toward a child audience (because of it's size and the typestyle/font), I wouldn't buy this book for a small child. However, I think it could be appreciated by those 10 and older.