In this haunting black-and-white picture book, Bunting (see A Day's Work, reviewed above) and Wiesner (Tuesday) imagine the secret life of gargoyles. Das ist beim vorliegenden Band zwar leider auch nicht anders, doch sind es großformatige Zeichnungen, welche in eine geheimnisvolle Welt entführen. The gargoyles in this haunting tale are mischievous as they “creep on stubs of feet…land in sleeping trees…and swoop to where a fountain splashes. The beautifully detailed black and white illustrations done by David Wiesner show the fun things the gargoyles take part in when they come alive. In Ireland, “There used to be Shanachies… the shanachie was a storyteller who went from house to house telling his tales of ghosts and fairies, of old Irish heroes and battles still to be won.

Ganz weit nach oben, auf die Kathedralen, wo die Steinmetze des Mittelalters Figuren von ganz besonderem Zauber erschaffen haben. David Wiesner uses pastels to give the book a very creepy feeling, but also, he manages to maintain a gentle, comedic feel even though gargoyles are generally described as evil and mean. I can see how the book might be a little too scary for some children, but my daughter seems to find it "just right," as do I.If the illustrations of a book were the foundation of how I rate books, than I would have given this one a 4 or 5 star. I was drawn to this book because I hadn't heard of it and because it seemed a drastic change of topic for the author I knew, with heart tugging texts such as Fly Away Home and The Wednesday Surprise.

In this visually arresting picture book, Sophia ""receives"" an olive tree from her grandfather on her seventh birthday, one that still grows on his native Greek isle. Three of the picture books he both wrote and illustrated became instant classics when they won the prestigious Caldecott Medal: Tuesday in 1992, The Three Pigs in 2002, and Flotsam in 2007, making him only the second person in the award's long history to have won three times.

As it is quite dark and brooding in places it is only suitable for use with KS2 pupils, but it is packed full of imagery and figurative language that can be played with.

On the first night of Hanukkah every year, Grandma recites her experience as a 12-year-old in Buchenwald, when she risked her life to steal a potato and margarine to improvise one Hanukkah light. PW enjoyed the ``witty and whimsical verses'' that tell the tale of a desert-dwelling duck who receives on his birthday water paraphernalia--and an inflatable pool in which to try them out. Bunting (Smoky Night) features two badgers walking along a forest path at sunset in the opening shot of this somewhat plodding intergenerational tale. The beautifully evocative text from Bunting, describing the antics of the gargoyles at night, is perfectly matched by the dark-toned but gorgeous pastel artwork of Wiesner in Night of the Gargoyles.Eve Bunting has written more than 200 books for children, many of which can be found in libraries around the world. Although I enjoyed the illustrations and thought they fitted the story well, they potentially would not aid children in staying engaged with the text as they read. It gave the story a very eery feeling, making it one I would only indulge other in around Halloween time or in the darker months. You don't need to talk about how they lick the stars and have "green-pickled tongues" and "swing on branches, da-de-da, and feel the air move cool against their pockmarked stone. Bunting’s evocative writing coupled with Wiesner’s eye-catching charcoal illustrations tell a playful but dark story.