Children's Books
Comfort in the Night
‘Charley’s First Night’ and ‘Lovabye Dragon’
From “Lovabye Dragon”
By PAMELA PAUL
The night can be a dark and lonely place. Not just for children, but for dragons and small dogs too.
CHARLEY'S FIRST NIGHT
By Amy Hest
Illustrated by Helen Oxenbury
32 pp. Candlewick Press. $15.99. (Picture book; ages 3 to 6)
LOVABYE DRAGON
By Barbara Joosse
Illustrated by Randy Cecil
32 pp. Candlewick Press. $15.99. (Picture book; ages 3 to 6)
From “Charley’s First Night”
In the endearing “Charley’s First Night,” by Amy Hest (“When Jessie Came
Across the Sea”), it is not Henry, a towheaded young boy, who grows
lonesome and fearful in the dark, but his tawny-colored new puppy,
Charley. Hest has Henry tell the story, which he does in perfectly
calibrated 6-year-old-boy diction. “ ‘This is home.’ That’s what I told
Charley when we got home, and I showed him all the rooms, including my
room.” He repeatedly tells Charley this so that Charley will get the
message.
But come evening, message received or not, Charley doesn’t want to
spend the night in the kitchen, where Henry’s parents have said he must
sleep. Truth be told, Henry doesn’t want him to sleep there either.
Whatever his personal preferences, Henry makes a good-faith effort to
help Charley stay put, a sweet reversal of roles as he plays parent to
Charley’s sleepless baby. He gives Charley a clock; he gives him his old
bear, Bobo; he lies next to Charley to help soothe him into slumber.
“Charley’s First Night” is one of those stories that are delicious
precisely because they are not something new, but something familiar.
Hest understands the way small boys think and what tugs at their
heartstrings. She’s got a pretty good feel for puppies, too, as does
Oxenbury (“We’re Going on a Bear Hunt”), who uses soft brush strokes and
muted colors to give the book a warm, intimate, bedtime glow. There’s
really no question that these two companions will end up sleeping in the
same bed. The sweetness is in how they find themselves there and how
readers will recognize themselves in the story.
Loneliness in the night is also the subject of the dreamy “Lovabye
Dragon,” one of a welcome wave of books that let girls play with beasts
that once kept company solely with boys. But why shouldn’t girls
appreciate fire-breathing dragons too, especially if they allow
themselves to be ridden into the night sky? What’s not to like? The
state of affairs in this story is understandably plaintive, as laid out
on the very first page: “Once there was a girl / an all-alone girl / in
her own little bed / in her own little room / in her own little castle /
who didn’t have a dragon for a friend.”
Barbara Joosse’s story then switches to the lair of an all-alone dragon,
and we go back-and-forth between their stories as the girl’s silver
tears of heartache and longing wend their way to the dragon, and then
back again to her castle chamber where the two fated friends finally
meet.
“I am here!” roared Dragon.
“You’re a dear!” whispered Girl.
“I found you!” roared Dragon.
“As I wished,” whispered Girl.
The book is bathed like a romance in moody lavenders and deep grayish
blues, and its bug-eyed dragon is more adorable than fearsome. Randy
Cecil ("Horsefly and Honeybee") knows how to make even scaly creatures
look winsome, and if his oddly coiffed princess is a bit on the homely
side, well, that's kind of a nice change of pace too.