Starred Review ALA Booklist (Fri Sep 01 00:00:00 CDT 2017)

Starred Review As nighttime falls, a brown-skinned kid, who could be a boy or a girl, in a cheery red hoodie (surely an homage to Ezra Jack Keats' The Snowy Day) takes a dog for a walk down a densely populated city street. In dusky building facades, glowing windows reveal snippets of life within, and with a lyrical, whispery tone, the narrative directly invites the reader, like the protagonist, to find delight and wonder in the neighborhood's activity. Goodale's arresting artwork does most of the heavy lifting here, with a sky progressing from the pale pastels just before sunset to the fiery orange and pink glow of a setting sun to the deep blues and purples of a darkening night. The cityscape is lively in front of Goodale's aqueous skies, and the variety of people quietly emphasizes the diversity of the child's neighborhood milies prepare dinner, construction workers tidy up a site, couples take dance lessons, a yoga class stretches, and a pair of kids in neighboring houses talk on a tin-can telephone strung between their windows. It's a genial take on city life, which makes the neighborhood seem just as comforting as home, though the child's home st as luminescent as the windows he or she passes surely the most comforting of all. Ideal bedtime reading and a gorgeously understated celebration of everyday enchantment.

Starred Review for Kirkus Reviews

Readers are invited to match their observant eyes with those of a child out for an evening walk.A young child of color puts on a red hoodie and goes for a walk in his neighborhood in the hours between sunset and bedtime. The neighborhood is mostly residential with two-story homes, apartment houses, and some small businesses. The family dog goes along as the child (referred to as "you" throughout in the second-person narrative) notes the animals—a cat and a raccoon—they pass by. The child notes the windows and what the people or animals that can be seen within their frames are doing; they may be playing an instrument or dancing or painting. At the end of the walk they go past a house with no lights on; its windows "leave you to fill them up with stories." Finally, home beckons, and child and mother curl up in a comfy chair for a bedtime story. Denos' story is quiet, thoughtful, and paced to the beat of a gentle rhythm. Debut illustrator Goodale's delicately detailed ink, watercolor, letterpress, and digital collage illustrations display palettes of the evening and night skies with beautifully nuanced shades of yellow, gold, and blue. The red-hooded child of color with dog can't help but recall Peter and Willie, and this book is a lovely, affirming follow-up. A warmhearted tale of a child, a dog, and their peaceful, friendly, and inviting neighborhood. (Picture book. 3-6)

School Library Journal Starred Review (Tue Aug 01 00:00:00 CDT 2017)

PreS-Gr 1In this story, a boy of color dons a red hoodie, leashes his eager dog, and ventures out into the twilight, where the windows are "blinking awake as the lights turn on inside: a neighborhood of paper lanterns." Readers get to peer in at the small, diverse figures making dinner, throwing a party, dancing, even stretching tin cans on a string between houses to talk on the "phone." The brilliant colors of the changing sky connect to the illumination withinas if originating from the same source. Light and relationships envelop the journey in security and quiet joy: the child's mother watches as her son leaves, waves to a friend on a skateboard, and plays with his dog in the park. Memorable language contributes to the mood, as a raccoon is observed "taking a bath in squares of yellow light." The compositions are rendered in ink, watercolor, letterpress, and digital collage. Readers will want to revisit these pages of impressionistic trees, buildings that blur as they recede into the vanishing point, and captivating combinations of fully realized scenes with transparent objects outlined in delicate lines. The narrative ends with a quickening step toward the loved one waving behind the curtainand a story shared in a snuggle. VERDICT This evocative portrait elevates an everyday routine to a wonder-filled walk of discovery. Perfect for one-on-one and small group sharing.Wendy Lukehart, District of Columbia Public Library

Horn Book

As evening falls, a brown-skinned child takes the dog for a walk, mother watching protectively from the apartment window. This child, the "you" of the text, traverses a populous and benign urban neighborhood, musing on the activities glimpsed through windows of buildings passed. The tone is contemplative, balanced by considerable action in the ink, watercolor, letterpress, and digital-collage illustrations and a sense of vibrant life throughout.

Kirkus Reviews (Fri Oct 04 00:00:00 CDT 2024)

Readers are invited to match their observant eyes with those of a child out for an evening walk.A young child of color puts on a red hoodie and goes for a walk in his neighborhood in the hours between sunset and bedtime. The neighborhood is mostly residential with two-story homes, apartment houses, and some small businesses. The family dog goes along as the child (referred to as "you" throughout in the second-person narrative) notes the animals—a cat and a raccoon—they pass by. The child notes the windows and what the people or animals that can be seen within their frames are doing; they may be playing an instrument or dancing or painting. At the end of the walk they go past a house with no lights on; its windows "leave you to fill them up with stories." Finally, home beckons, and child and mother curl up in a comfy chair for a bedtime story. Denos' story is quiet, thoughtful, and paced to the beat of a gentle rhythm. Debut illustrator Goodale's delicately detailed ink, watercolor, letterpress, and digital collage illustrations display palettes of the evening and night skies with beautifully nuanced shades of yellow, gold, and blue. The red-hooded child of color with dog can't help but recall Peter and Willie, and this book is a lovely, affirming follow-up. A warmhearted tale of a child, a dog, and their peaceful, friendly, and inviting neighborhood. (Picture book. 3-6)