Ask 100 children what might happen if you put wild animals in charge of a country fair in the middle of the night--there's a good chance that variations of their answers appear in this gloriously imaginative wordless picture book by Gideon Sterer and Mariachiara Di Giorgio. Dozens of animals watch from the nearby woods as evening turns to night and the swirling, neon-bright magic of a country fair begins to wind down. A worker switches off the main power switch and drives away. But the night of thrills, games and fried dough is not over.
Di Giorgio's lush watercolor, gouache and colored pencil artwork is spectacular not just in its liveliness and beauty, but in its remarkable depth and perspective. Surprise after surprise emerges for the keen-eyed reader, and not a detail is neglected. The Midnight Fair--like a ride on a Ferris wheel--will likely elicit entreaties of "Again, again!" --Emilie Coulter, freelance writer and editor