#129 of 1001 · December 7, 2020

There’s subtle humor and just a sliver of the celestial to be had in Hildilid’s Night by Cheli Durán Ryan and Arnold Lobel. This is a tale of insomnia writ large, of frustration, struggle, and eventual acceptance. Old Hildilid, in her hut in the hills near Hexham, is so averse to the dark of night that she endeavors to chase it away altogether. She tries sweeping it out with a broom, stuffing it in a sack, boiling it in a cauldron, binding it with vines, snipping it with shears, feeding it to her wolfhound, and a host of other whimsical tactics. Ryan observes the bizarre goings-on with a straight face, evincing wry sympathy for her ornery protagonist. Lobel (husband of illustrator Anita Lobel) employs meticulous hatching in his pen-and-ink drawings, crafting a ghostly landscape of black and white. Only on the last few pages does a gentle yellow glow creep over the horizon...just as Hildilid has finally fallen asleep. #arnoldlobel #night #hound #wolfhound #book #books #childrensbooks #beautifulbook #beautifulbooks #beautifulbookcover #beautifulbookcovers #picturebook #picturebooks #picturebookillustration #picturebookillustrations #picturebookart #childrensbookillustration #childrensliterature #illustration #kidlit #kidsbooks #bookworm #booklover #booklovers #bibliophile #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #bookstagrammers #instabook #instabooks