Pistes d'exploration

Do a picture walk of the story, paying attention to the setting. Share any text-to-self connections you make.

Notice the use of light in the story and illustrations. How is it featured on each page?

Draw a map of the walk taken by the grandfather and boy, using textual clues as well as your imagination. Use your map to retell the story to a classmate.

Discuss how the characters are dressed. Create descriptions for a picture catalogue of winter clothes found in the book. Add some of your own imaginative winter clothing designs.

Notice the use of light in the story and illustrations. How is it featured on each page? Make a class list of words related to light.

List personal characteristics for the characters. Discuss how the illustration and text help you picture them. Compare your list with others.

Discuss the featured celebrations. Conduct research to compare and contrast them.

Madlenka

Mots-clés

Picture book , city life , day and night , holidays , illustrations (watercolours) , intergenerational relationships

Commentaire descriptif

“How sad, the day is no more,” begins this quirky, cozy book about a walk through city streets. “Dusk,” the grandfather replies to the wistful little boy. On the way home, the boy learns that the loss of day allows evening to begin. The language combines minimal, descriptive phrases with lighthearted rhymes uttered by people they meet, such as a posh gentleman shopping for gifts (“I’ll search till I findthe best of its kind”). Young readers will enjoy sounding out the alien tourist’s rhyme (“‘bedy funnye ikla zdat,’ said a visitor from planet Zataplat.”) Illustrations use watercolour and pastel effects to portray dimming day and glowing night. Scratchy black outlines depict bundled figures hurrying though urban scenes. The boy’s face peeks between his oversized hat and scarf as they pass lit windows, each showing children celebrating a different religious holiday. Details abound in warm colours, with much for readers to discuss. Through both words and image, this book celebrates human ingenuity in bringing warmth and light to the long, cold nights of winter: “It’s as light as day,” said the boy.