The Midnight Fair by Gideon Sterer

The Midnight Fair

Gideon Sterer, Author

Mariachiara Di Giorgio, Illustrator

Candlewick, Fiction, Feb. 2, 2021

Suitable for ages: 3-7

Themes:  Animals, Fairgrounds, Fantasy, Magic, Bedtime dreams, Wordless

Publisher’s Synopsis:

As darkness falls on the fairgrounds, the animals venture out of the woods for one magical, memorable night! An exhilarating wordless picture book.

Far from the city, but not quite the countryside, lies a fairground. When night comes and the fair is empty, something unexpected happens. Wild animals emerge from the forest, a brave raccoon pulls a lever, and the roller coasters and rides explode back into bright, neon life. It’s time for the woodland creatures to head to the fair!

In a gorgeous wordless picture book, author Gideon Sterer and illustrator Mariachiara Di Giorgio offer an exuberant take on what animals are up to when humans are asleep. Suffused with color and light, the panel illustrations celebrate the inherent humor and joy in deer flying by on chair-swings, a bear winning a stuffed bear, three weasels carrying a soft pretzel, and a badger driving a bumper car. With thrills both spectacular and subtle, Midnight Fair will have readers punching their tickets again and again to revel in this fantastic nocturnal world. 

What to love about this book:

Gideon Sterer’s wordless picture book is magical and entertaining. It encourages children to use their BIG imaginations to tell the story in their own words!  And each story will be very different because there is so much lively and subtle detail to explore. Each page reveals surprise after surprise, with a very memorable moment at the end. 

Mariachiara Di Giorgio’s whimsical watercolor, gouache and colored pencil illustrations celebrate the wild animal’s night of magic, their lively and playful adventure, and the beautiful natural world they call home. This story is perfect for bedtime dreaming! It also is a nod that summer is here and it’s time to go to the fair!

Resources: Take your kids to a local summer fair. The entire book is a resource that will inspire creativity for kids. Provide crayons and let them draw their favorite scene. They may want to draw their favorite animal doing a different task at the fair, like making cotton candy  or taking tickets. Maybe they want to draw their own pet at the fair. After all, it is their story to imagine what is happening in the story. 

Gideon Sterer is the author of many books for children. He grew up in the woods of upstate New York, where his parents owned a small zoo. After hours, he would often run around and let the animals out of their cages. Who knows what sort of might mischief they got up to? Gideon Sterer lives in Brooklyn.

Every Friday, authors and KidLit bloggers post a favorite picture book. To see a complete listing of all the Perfect Picture Books (PPB) with resources, please visit author Susanna Leonard Hill’s website.

 

*Review copy provided by Candlewick Press in exchange for a review.