Windows (2017, Candlewick Press, Picture Book)

From the publisher:

Walking his dog at dusk, one boy catches glimpses of the lives around him in this lovely ode to autumn evenings, exploring your neighborhood, and coming home.

Before your city goes to sleep, you might head out for a walk, your dog at your side as you go out the door and into the almost-night. Anything can happen on such a walk: you might pass a cat, or a friend, or even an early raccoon. And as you go down your street and around the corner, the windows around you light up one by one until you are walking through a maze of paper lanterns, each one granting you a brief, glowing snapshot of your neighbors as families come together and folks settle in for the night. With a setting that feels both specific and universal and a story full of homages to The Snowy Day, Julia Denos and E. B. Goodale have created a singular book — at once about the idea of home and the magic of curiosity, but also about how a sense of safety and belonging is something to which every child is entitled.

Review:

Windows, written by Julia Denos and illustrated by E.B. Goodale, encourages young readers to notice the world around them, and consider how people may spend their evenings in different ways. Through beautiful images of a city at sunset, the story takes the reader on a walk through different neighborhoods and offers a little glimpse of what might be happening through each window.

While the text isn’t exceptionally magical, it sets a soft, dream-like tone and works well with the illustrations. The illustrations are what really shine and make this one worth reading. In fact, adults might have fun letting children make up their own stories while looking at the pictures.

Recommended for children ages 3 to 7. Themes of home and family against a setting of night makes this a great bedtime read.

4 stars shining in your window

Windows hits shelves next month just in time for a lovely Fall stroll through the neighborhood.

Thank you to Candlewick for a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.