Star Fishing

When a sleepless pale-skinned child, clad in a white bunny suit, ventures out of bed, a message from the moon—“play with meeeeeee”—beckons the youth outside. Catching hold of a star on a thin string, the child is reeled upward by Little Rabbit, and the two kindred spirits sit side by side on a crescent moon, fishing for others who are similarly wakeful. After Crab, Fox, Big Bear, and Little Bear join the party, the group of night owls play amid a glowing starscape (“The stars aren’t sleepy, either!”) that provides an ideal canvas for Kim’s luminous colored pencil, pastel, and pen artwork. Fearing that Little Rabbit will be lonely on the moon after the child and friends return to their homes, the group creates constellations until slumber time arrives. Employing spare second-person narration and limited dialogue, Kim offers a sensitive, dreamlike lullaby for the restless. Ages 4–8. (Feb.)