The Night Knights is a great good-nite book

There are some children’s books that extend beyond the ages that they’ve meant for. In theory they have a younger skewing interest level, but there is just something about them makes them work for a couple years older, or longer than you think they will. The Night Knights by Gideon Sterer with illustrations by Cory Godbey is that kind of book.

It’s firmly uses the pun ‘night knights’ all the way through the book. Yet, unlike The Great Lollipop Caper, The Night Knights yields its pun power through strength, instead of grins.

Think about it. Your children have never seen a monster have they? A curious 10 year-old boy in the book casually points out that this is due to The Night Knights; a marauding group of medieval protectors who patrol neighborhoods near and far. This is a muscular crew on horseback, foot, ship or giant owl as they look for monsters who are out to scare or otherwise do harm.

The text in The Night Nights is simple and the sort that second graders should be able to read without any issue. It occasionally rhymes and flows like a poem, but doesn’t hamstring the readers into looking for words that must rhyme every other stanza.

The other thing, and for us-the main thing, that really makes The Night Knights work is its artwork. The pictures of suburbia are perfectly presented, but with a dark pink hue, set against a pending fog bank coming in. This is a children’s suburban setting with a health vibe of John Carpenter or middle-Earth thrown in for good measure. The knights appear on a cliff overlooking the city. They’re clad in suits of armor, swords as big as they are, archers who are cloaked by night or braving the scrags of rocky shore. The colors that are on the semi-glossy pages really make the main subject pop off the page while the other aspects fade away from your attention.

These are adventure knights who are here to wish and protect your small reader a good night.   And yes, this is a good night book and kids will not mistake this for a battle anthem of the sleep republic. It’s the colors and words that give off the vibe that they’ve had a great day and that there is nothing to be scared of, especially at night.