#723 of 1001 · July 24, 2022

Even when surrounded by warmth and comfort, it’s all to easy to feel trapped by social isolation. A sense of belonging may develop over time, but wouldn’t it be lovely if something came along to break the ice in the most extraordinary way possible? @danielmiyaresdoodles gives us just such a tale in his imaginative and alluring Night Out. The protagonist is a young boy attending a dignified boarding school in a stately country manor house. While the other children seem to have made friends, he eats alone at the table and lies sadly awake in bed after lights out. Beckoned by the appearance of a mysterious invitation and map, he sneaks out the window and rides into the night on his bicycle. An enormous turtle carries him across dark waters to a cave, where a bear, an owl, a rabbit, a goose, and a fox are hosting a tea party and a lively dance. Is all of this a dream? As possible clues, the midnight adventure contains several visual links to the mundane world of the school. The giant turtle seems to be a larger version of the boy’s own tiny pet (seen crawling out of its bowl early in the night and back in at dawn), the cave resembles the rock in the turtle’s habitat, and the chair at the party is identical to those seen in the school dining room and dormitory. Whether dream, truth, or a creative bit of fiction, the story serves its social purpose: by entertaining his schoolmates, the boy is quickly welcomed into the group. Miyares employs a structure somewhere between a traditional story and a wordless picture book, the narrative propelled by strongly evocative illustrations occasionally accompanied by brief snippets of dialogue or short phrases hinting at the boy’s internal thoughts. The art, a glowing combination of gouache and colored pencil, establishes a world anchored in reality with currents of magic trickling in at the edges. #night #out #nightout #school #bicycle #cave #animal #animals #friend #friends #friendship #magic #book #books #childrensbooks #picturebook #childrensbookillustration #childrensliterature #illustration #kidlit #kidsbooks #bookworm #booklover #booklovers #bibliophile #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #bookstagrammers #instabook #instabooks