The joke is on the nocturnal creatures that star in this humorous picture book written and illustrated by Gianna Marino (Meet Me at the Moon; Following Papa's Song).
The whites of three animals' eyes break up the ink-black endpapers, followed by a possum and skunk tucked behind trees on opposite ends of a double-page spread. "Hey Possum, what are you doing in there?" asks a skunk. "Shhhhhh!! I'm hiding," Possum answers. The skunk asks what Possum is hiding from, and Possum replies, "Night animals!" When a wolf, being pursued, asks for help, Marino depicts yellow fumes escaping from the skunk's derriere, and Possum plays dead. Readers discover it's a bear in pursuit of the wolf, and skunk pulls the playing-dead Possum by the tail. Marino manipulates her gouache-and-ink nightscapes beautifully, especially as a bat approaches, its wingspread framed by the moonlight. "Stop!" the bat shouts. "What are you so scared of?" When the bear answers, "We're scared of night animals!" the bat, hanging by one foot and spotlighted by the full moon, sets the record straight: "But you ARE night animals." Still, there's one creature left that can scare all of the night animals.
Children will love figuring out the possum and skunk's defenses, and matching up the animal sounds with the creatures that make them. Marino uses their fearful wide eyes to great comic effect. This will be a repeat request. --Jennifer M. Brown, children's editor, Shelf Awareness