#218 of 1001 · March 6, 2021

Have you ever tried to capture that elusive moment on the brink of sleep when your eyelids grow heavy and your mind drifts off into the fog? Even if that threshold crossing remains forever beyond our grasp, the next best thing may be the whimsical warmth of Helme Heine’s The Marvelous Journey Through the Night. Sleep, personified as an inscrutable but benevolent figure wrapped in a cloak of stars and carrying a crescent-shaped lantern on a rod, leads humans and animals alike into the dark of night. His sister Dream, sporting a rainbow candy-striped stovepipe hat, then takes over and brings the peaceful sleepers to the Land of Heart’s Desire, a paradise where bizarre and miraculous events are commonplace. Peace reigns until morning, and then the journey is done...until the next night. Heine’s lulling text (translated from German by Ralph Manheim) and ethereal illustrations blend to form an enchanting meditation on the fabric of dreams. #journey #night #sleep #dream #paradise #book #books #childrensbooks #beautifulbook #beautifulbooks #beautifulbookcover #beautifulbookcovers #picturebook #picturebooks #picturebookillustration #picturebookart #childrensbookillustration #childrensliterature #illustration #kidlit #kidsbooks #bookworm #booklover #booklovers #bibliophile #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #bookstagrammers #instabook #instabooks