The Night Box

   You can tell I'm excited about this book, because I didn't procrastinate writing this blog post and, instead, procrastinated other important things such as drying my hair and applying for jobs. So, another blog post this week, you lucky people. In all seriousness though, I'm really enjoying reading and writing about children's books, and this really reflects in how dedicated I am becoming with this blog. I just think that I know this dedication could pay off and land me my dream job in children's publishing, so it has that extra pressure that a hobby doesn't necessarily have, and I work well with that pressure.

   The Night Box, by Louise Greig and illustrated, beautifully, by Ashling Lindsay was rightfully shortlisted for the Waterstones Children's Book Prize 2018 in the Illustrated Books category. I had seen this book in my local Waterstones once or twice before picking it up and I'll be honest, I did what you're told to never do: I judged a book by it's cover. GASP. I know that children are much more advanced than being easily distracted by bright colours, but if you can't use bright and wonderful colours in children's books, when can you? So when I saw the beige that dominates the front cover, I wasn't convinced. As a uncultured swine when it comes to art, I can't really comment on such things, but I do have my own particular taste in what I like stylistically in illustrations. I'll be honest, Ashling Lindsay's style did not, at first glance, seem like my kind of thing. HOWEVER, the nomination (and the fact that I recently applied for an Egmont job) led me to pick it up, take it home, and give it a chance. 

Check the lil sticker.

  Let us talk about the front cover I so rashly judged. It really is a thing of beauty (besides that beigey-yellow). That reflection of the fox in the puddle? *swoon*. Also, the fox, the puddle, the flowers, the cat, the boy and the 'The Night Box' black cloud are a glossier material. I'm no design expert (I could be though, future employer, I'm a quick learner) so I don't know the specific technical term, but it's glossy. Therefore, in the light, they reflect and make it look even more magical. 

   So, once I read the book, I felt like a fool. The partnership between Greig's words and Lindsay's art is uncanny - I felt like I'd seen it before, but it was also somehow new. When I had finished the book, I began reflecting on what I had just read. The words read like poetry and I was really taken aback by the beauty of it. I couldn't quite get the rhythm when I read it (aloud of course, to my dog Jimmy, he is also a fan), but if all the poetry modules at university taught me anything, it's that, annoyingly for me, a rhyme-Nazi, not all poems have to rhyme or have a regimented structure. 

   Now, here is where you guys go "Alice, please get a real job and stop this nonsense" because I am about to compare a line to T.S. Eliot's 'The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock' for no reason besides it's just the vibe I get. It's like a T.S. Eliot for kids. Which is obviously not ideal, because he's a bit depressing and bloody difficult to read, but what can I tell ya? I'm a Lit Kid. Anyway, the way that Greig describes the transition between Day and Night is, I think, similar to Eliot. Greig writes "darkness swirls and spills like ink into the world" and that just immediately made me think of "when the evening is spread out against the sky" (without the "like a patient etherised upon a table" part). The Night Box makes much more sense to me than Eliot ever did, which is definitely an obvious thing to say, but it really is an indescribable connection that I have seemingly created between these two texts. When I started this blog post, I told myself to leave the over-analysis at the door this time, but dang-flab it, the Eliot vibe there is undeniable (to me). Not really sure what to do with this information, and I don't really want to go into it anymore, because even I am in shock at how deep I went so please let us just move on.

   I really do think that this book is simply gorgeous and gorgeously simple. The illustrations don't over-power the words, but accompany and even accentuate them. The personification of the Night-time is a really special thing, taking fear out of the darkness and the unknown for little ones. Night is described as "brave", as it "covers a fawn, asleep with her mother", warning "Leave them in peace". Any fear or anxiety about Night being a time of danger is so simply dismantled and restructured as a time of wonder. The idea of Night as a kind of protector is so endearing - it (ungendered as well, nice) protects the fawn and Max while he is sleeping. A simple reflection is romanticised to be Night gifting the moon to a pond, which is drawn beautifully. Even the introduction of the nocturnal animals is really sweet, describing creatures like badgers, moles, owls and foxes as playing, leaping and swooping.

This is my favourite illustration.

   This book is nothing like I've ever read before and I really enjoyed reading it (and then re-reading it to try and justify the Eliot thing). I would specifically recommend this book to parents and guardians with children who have any fear, worry or anxiety about the dark. Maybe even go a step further and make a little cube with glitter and stuff to put at the bottom of their bed or something. I know I would have loved that. 

BUTTON RATING:

 

A wonderful and endearing example of how the right pairing of author and illustrator can make a one of the sweetest children's books there is. 

Bye x

Buy The Night Box by Louise Greig and Ashling Lindsay at Waterstones or Amazon.