Night Lunch

by Eric Fan (Author) Dena Seiferling (Illustrator)

Reading Level: K − 1st Grade

A delectable picture book about midnight snacks, nocturnal creatures and unexpected generosity, inspired by lunch carts that were the predecessors of today's food trucks and diners.

For fans of The Night Gardener.

Noses sniff the air as mouthwatering smells waft down city streets, luring growling bellies to the Night Owl. Inside this elegant, horse-drawn establishment, a feathery cook works the grill, serving up tasty dishes for shift-workers and opera goers alike: a mince pie for Fox, a ham sandwich for Badger and puddings for little Possums. Mouse, a poor street sweeper, watches as the line of customers swells, ever hopeful that someone will drop a morsel of food -- but Owl's cooking is far too delicious for more than a crumb to be found. As the evening's service winds down, weary Owl spots trembling Mouse. Has he found his own night lunch, or will he invite this small sweeper inside for a midnight feast for two?

From the imagination of two acclaimed picture book creators, together for the first time, this dreamlike picture book is a magical ode to Victorian lunch wagons. Evoking the sounds, sights, smells and tastes of the city at night, Night Lunch reveals how empathy and kindness as well as dignity and gratitude can be found -- and savored -- in the most unexpected places.

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Kirkus Reviews

A tasty little treat.

Publishers Weekly

Starred Review

"Clip, clop, a midnight moon./ The night lunch cart rolls in." Spare, incantatory lines by Fan (Lizzy and the Cloud) lay down a soothing rhythm for this nocturnal idyll. Every night, a horse-drawn lunch wagon travels slowly through a darkened city, providing an array of animals--cats, foxes, possums, even a luna moth--with tasty midnight meals. Coffee, mince pie, sausages and peppers, butter rolls and biscuits; each creature gets what it wants. The toque-wearing owl who runs it says little, its energy instead devoted to cooking and serving food ("Crack, crack, a dozen eggs--/ sizzling in the pan"). Via the glow of streetlamps, the luminous moon, and the cart's twinkling light, Seiferling (The Language of Flowers) theatrically illuminates the nighttime action, portrayed in scratchy, sepia-toned art. But who is the tiny creature sweeping trash into the gutter? It's a small, hungry mouse. When the owl realizes the rodent's plight, it invites the mouse to share undreamed-of bounty, and take a bag of food to go--not only sparing its traditional prey, but nourishing it, in this memorable vision of a peaceable kingdom. Ages 4-8. Author's agent: Kirsten Hall, Catbird Productions. Illustrator's agent: Jackie Kaiser, Westwood Creative Artists. (Sept.)

Copyright 2022 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.

School Library Journal

A horse drawn lunch wagon rolling down a moonlit seemingly deserted city street gathers a crowd of surprising customers in this atmospheric nocturne. To Fan's quietly rhythmic text—"Drip, drop, coffee's hot./ Noses sniff the air./ Shuffle yawn, bellies growl./ The night lunch bell is ringing"—running across the bottom, Seiferling pairs misty scenes of sidewalks and closed stores, glimmering streetlights, and dark apartment buildings. Who would be out at such a late hour? "Night Owl" proclaims the sign on the wagon with perfect truth, for the proprietor/cook turns out to be a large owl, and the queued up clientele? A badger, a fox, a family of porcupines, moths, opossums, and other wildlife sporting hats, purses, and other anthropomorphic gear place orders for mince pie, sandwiches, biscuits, or pudding. Some diners sit down to eat (the wagon is larger on the inside than outside), others take away bags. And after the rush, as the sky begins to brighten and before closing up, the owl invites a tiny mouse who has been hopefully sweeping up the crumbs to share a sumptuous high tea. A hint of mischief animates this peaceful, harmonious alternative to such noisier peeks at what animals really do at night as Gideon Sterer's The Midnight Fair, illustrated by Mariachiara Di Giorgio. VERDICT A pleaser for story time or bedtime, with distinctive art that adds quiet touches of humor and mystery.—John Edward Peters

Copyright 2022 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Review quotes

A New York Times/New York Public Library Best Illustrated Children's Book of 2022
An Indigo Best Kids' Book of 2022

Eric Fan
ERIC FAN is one of the internationally renowned Fan Brothers whose picture books include The Barnabus Project, The Night Gardener and Ocean Meets Sky. Eric and Terry also illustrated the Chris Hadfield-penned picture book The Darkest Dark, Dashka Slater's The Antlered Ship and Beth Ferry's The Scarecrow. Recipients of the prestigious Sendak Fellowship, they have received a Governor General's Literary Award and the Dilys Evans Founder's Award from the Society of Illustrators, and were also shortlisted for the Kate Greenaway Medal among other honors.

DENA SEIFERLING is a highly acclaimed picture book author and illustrator and needle-felt artist who graduated with a B.F.A. and Visual Communications Degree from the Alberta University of the Arts, where she now works as an instructor. She is the illustrator of King Mouse, which was a finalist for the Governor General's Literary Award, and its companion book Bear Wants to Sing. The Language of Flowers marked her exquisite debut as both author and illustrator.
Classification
Fiction
ISBN-13
9780735270572
Lexile Measure
450
Guided Reading Level
-
Publisher
Tundra Books (NY)
Publication date
September 20, 2022
Series
-
BISAC categories
JUV002040 - Juvenile Fiction | Animals | Birds
JUV010000 - Juvenile Fiction | Bedtime & Dreams
JUV050000 - Juvenile Fiction | Cooking & Food
Library of Congress categories
Animals
Picture books
Kindness
Food trucks
New York Times Book Review & New York Public Library
Best Illustrated Children's Book Awards 2022
Indigo
Best Kids' Book 2022

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