#244 of 1001 · April 1, 2021

There’s always a certain mysterious quality to the night—plans can be quietly carried out and concealed in the darkness, later to be revealed in the light of day. Though many associate this atmosphere with danger, there’s no reason that one can’t use the opportunity to create something beautiful in secret. And, if making one beautiful thing, why not another? What about a whole slew of them? Just such a lovely sequence of events occurs in The Night Gardener, co-written and co-illustrated by @terryfanillustration and @ericfanillustration, also known as @thefanbrothers. William and his neighbors on Grimloch Lane notice that someone has begun to cut the foliage into topiary animals under cover of night. Each morning, a new work appears, to the locals’ growing delight. Finally, William spots the creator of the wonderful art and joins him in transforming the local park into a verdant menagerie. The rich detail of their digitally colored graphite illustrations complementing the spare, contemplative voice of their writing, the Fan Brothers display a mastery of the picture book form. The style and content of the images communicate subtle bits of information not present in the text. The gardener receives inspiration for his sculptural pieces first from William’s drawing of an owl and then from a pack of feral cats. William himself is shown to live in the Grimloch Orphanage, a lone photograph of a man and a woman sitting on his windowsill. Moreover, while at first the topiary animals appear as isolated patches of color in an otherwise desaturated grayscale environment, the neighborhood and its residents boast a widening range of hues as the art brightens the spirits of the entire community. #night #gardener #animal #animals #sculpture #sculptured #secret #art #book #books #childrensbooks #beautifulbooks #picturebook #picturebooks #picturebookillustration #picturebookart #childrensbookillustration #childrensliterature #illustration #kidlit #kidsbooks #bookworm #booklover #booklovers #bibliophile #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #bookstagrammers #instabook #instabooks