ONCE UPON A NORTHERN NIGHT by Jean E. Pendziwol/ Illustrated by Isabelle Arsenault
"As a little boy sleeps soundly, wrapped up warm in bed, a winter tableau slowly builds outside, beginning with a single snowflake and culminating in a dazzling white wonderland. Pendziwol offers a quiet poem that beautifully and lovingly tells the story of how the scene appears. She gently evokes the snowfall, the animals creeping out of the woods to leave their tracks behind, the shimmering stars in the night sky, the glistening frozen branches of a willow tree, and the curlicues of frost framing the little boy’s windowpane. Award-winning Arsenault’s gorgeous, muted illustrations begin in blacks and grays but gradually expand to include bright swatches of color. The lilting, whispering rhythm and tone of Pendziwol’s poem, along with the accompanying serene landscape, make this a perfect snuggly bedtime read-aloud."
- Booklist
PUBLISHER: Groundwood Books 2013
Once Upon a Northern Night: A Loving Illustrated Lullaby of Winter’s Whimsy | Brainpickings | By Maria Popova
“… writer Jean E. Pendziwol and illustrator Isabelle Arsenault weave a beautiful lullaby in Once Upon a Northern Night (public library | IndieBound) — a loving homage to winter’s soft-coated whimsy, composed with touches of Thoreau’s deep reverence for nature and Whitman’s gift for exalting “the nature around and within us.”
Kirkus Review
“Once upon a northern night / while you lay sleeping, / wrapped in a downy blanket, / I painted you a picture. …“This opening text (which begins on the title page) stages the stark scene of a boy sleeping in a bed in darkness. “It started with one tiny flake // ...until the earth was / wrapped in a downy blanket, / just like you.” Each verse starts with the title line, creating a hushed, nighttime lullaby that is illustrated with soft, atmospheric, black-and-white images of all the activity that fills this quiet, snowy night. Spots of color dot the pages, demonstrating how effective and dramatic black and white can be. There are sprinkles of green pine needles, yellow eyes and beak on the owl, and the red tail of a fox. Artwork and words are skillfully balanced with descriptive phrasing: “pine trees held out prickly hands”; “a mother deer led her fawn”; “a great gray owl gazed down”; “two horseshoe hares / scampered”; “a small mouse / …scurried along the deck / …mounded with snowy white / like vanilla ice cream.” The final verse repeats the first and completes the experience.
…A beautiful, lyrical celebration of northern light and night.”
Awards
Once Upon a Northern Night has received starred reviews from Kirkus, Publishers Weekly and School Library Journal.
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DRAFT: Kostyk Communications, Inc. | Media Asset Management Associates | August 2019