Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

DaCosta builds her debut on the scaffolding of the suspenseful adventure that turns out to be make-believe. Illustrators of stories like these sometimes hint at what-s coming with comic artwork, but Young-s (The House That Baba Built) collages are deadly serious as he enters fully into the boy-s fantasy. His ninja, a black silhouette, breaks into a house and makes his way silently toward some unknown object: -He crept down the twisting moonlit hallway, and knelt in the dark shadows, listening.- Suddenly, a huge mother-shaped shadow flicks the light on, and the ninja is revealed as a boy sneaking into the kitchen for ice cream. Readers will be jolted (in a good way)-they-ve been immersed in the ninja-s search, and it-s tense with expectation. Artwork as fine as Young-s might overshadow the story, but DaCosta crafts her spare text carefully and with humor. Her ninja language tracks the boy-s actions right up to the moment he grabs a spoon. The depth of feeling Da Costa and Young give to the boy-s fantasy makes this a standout. Ages 3-6. Illustrator-s agent: Edward Necarsulmer IV, McIntosh & Otis. (Sept.)

Starred Review ALA Booklist (Mon Oct 01 00:00:00 CDT 2012)

Starred Review Stealth and silent, a ninja sets off on a midnight mission, breaking into a house to steal some treasure. He sneaks and balances, practiced and undetectable. And just as the sacred object is in his grasp, the lights flip on and his mother catches him, ice cream and spoon in his red-hot hands. Alas, the nighttime ninja is sent to bed, to dream of creeping and crawling another day. Young's expressive collage artwork, built of fabric, paper, and bits of string, hums with vitality, even in the silence of midnight. The imagined ninja, in black silhouette, slithers from page to page, breaking out of dark, tightly organized frames unable to contain his ardent energy. Beneath these frames, debut author DaCosta's spare, sinuous prose reinforces the ninja's intrepid, surreptitious elegance ("Step by step, he balanced and leapt"). At the moment of climactic surprise, text and image together turn a stylistic corner, finding vernacular comfort in a contemporary Japanese home. With measured pacing, careful design, and a beautifully symbiotic partnership of word and image, this enormously appealing, timeless story promises to delight preschool audiences and families alike for years to come.

Kirkus Reviews

Debut picture-book author DaCosta pens the quietly suspenseful quest of a ninja on a late-night mission…to the kitchen! Succinct language full of vivid verbs describing the action sets the mood for Young's lushly textured illustrations composed with cut paper, cloth, string and colored pencil. "The clock struck midnight…" and a grappling hook appears on the page turn, followed by a nimble and stealthy figure in black ably navigating every obstacle in his path. Climbing and clambering, balancing and leaping, he finally reaches his goal. Just as the ninja takes out his tools and goes to work, "Suddenly the lights flash on!" On this spread, the dusky hues and patterns utilized up to this point vanish to show an imposing hand-on-hip towering black silhouette against a glaringly bright, white background. Of course it turns out to be the child's mother catching her little one with a spoon stuck into what appears to be a chocolate-flavored treat. With the mission for a sweet snack aborted, mother proposes, "how about a getting-back-into-bed mission?" This relatively gentle tale celebrating the power of imagination fails to cover new territory but is executed quite well. Good to share at bedtime with antsy adventurers but too subdued a choice for die-hard Ninjago fans. (Picture book. 3-5)

School Library Journal (Sat Sep 01 00:00:00 CDT 2012)

PreS-Gr 1 It's midnight and a ninja is sneaking through a silent house. He's creeping closer and closer to his target until suddenly, "the lights flash on!" In an unexpectedly humorous twist, the ninja turns out to be a little boy caught by his mother in his attempt to raid the kitchen. She confiscates his midnight snack and sends her little ninja back to bed. Young's austere, nearly abstract mixed-media collage illustrations are mostly black silhouettes of the ninja in various action poses, set against paper and fabric backgrounds. They perfectly complement DaCosta's spare but neatly suspenseful story. Pair this one with J. C. Phillipps's Wink: The Ninja Who Wanted to Be Noticed (Viking, 2009) and David Bruins's The Legend of Ninja Cowboy Bear (Kids Can, 2009) for a fun ninja-themed storytime. Yelena Alekseyeva-Popova, formerly at Chappaqua Library, NY

Horn Book (Mon Apr 01 00:00:00 CDT 2013)

Silently, in the dark of night, a ninja creeps through a house while the family sleeps. It's not until two-thirds of the way through the book that our nimble ninja is revealed to be a young boy on the prowl for a midnight snack. Young's cut-paper and cloth illustrations imbue the spare, tension-filled text with mystery, beauty, and emotion.