This week has been busy, moving furniture around two rooms, setting up new televisions and sound. It was all more than I thought it would entail. Despite what is left to accomplish, KLR will be back on track come Monday (4-5 reviews / M-F).

I am looking for bloggers interested in joining a book blog tour for Diane Robinson’s third installment in The Pen Pieyu Adventures:  Sir Princess Petra’s Mission. The chapter book will be available as a PDF, and eBook, or a physical copy. The tour will run in March. Diane is also running a contest for bloggers who review her book. Interested Email me at smorris@kid-lit-reviews.com

Synopsis: Sir Princess Petra has already attained her Knighthood  in the Kingdom of Pen Pieyu and her non-princess-like Talent Certificate from Talent School, neither of which pleases her father, the king. The king writes up more silly rules in the royal rule book to deter Sir Princess Petra from her knightly ways and useless talent , and turn her into a real princess once and for all.

The Night Parade
Written by Johnny DePalma
Illustrated by Kyle Brown
Umbrelly Books    9/14/2015
978–0-69253528-8
40 pages    Ages 4—8

“DePalma’s latest rhyming masterpiece, The Night Parade, has the distinct feeling of an instant classic. With stunning illustrations by Kyle Brown that beautifully capture and blend the orchestrated chaos and whimsy of a world where dreams and nightmares run free. This simple, yet elegant tale reminds both the young, and the young at heart, that our dreams are always out there, waiting for us to find them.” [amazon description]

Review
The Night Parade is a rhyming bedtime story about where your dreams go and why they are often difficult to remember come morning’s light. The Night Walker, for lack of an established name, roams the streets at night, gathering dreams, keeping them hidden, leaving you wondering if you even dreamt. He gathers all the nightmares and most of the good dreams, but can, on occasion, leave a “strange or exciting” dream “for you to ponder.”

The beautiful illustrations are in shades of purple, giving the scenes a definite night-time feel. As the “Night Walker” gathers dreams they float behind him as he walks the streets. All sorts of objects represent these dreams (rocket, unicorn, elephant, lion, toy train, and a crown, among others), including clouds shaped as objects. The image on the cover (also an interior page) is of a dream breaking through a bedroom window. That is a tad disturbing.

The rhyming has a good meter and is well-written, though the story could have ended at several points. Instead, the last three spreads drag on, as if it is searching for a way to end itself. I am not quite sure how these dreams, taken and placed in safe hiding, come true, yet the last verse says it is so.

“So, sleep, my child, for when you wake,
your dreams have all come true.
They’re out there playing hide-and-seek,
just waiting there for you.”

The Night Parade tries hard to be a fable, but I think the abstract, almost absurd concepts jumble the overall message. The Night Walker takes away our nightmares—a good thing for kids—and then the dreams—“consider it a favor”—to keep our brains uncluttered and “protected from the nightmares.” The author is trying to reassure kids that bedtime and dreaming are safe and often wondrous. Adults that enjoy abstract, artsy picture books will love The Night Parade. (Illustrator Kyle Brown’s first children’s book.)

THE NIGHT PARADE. Text copyright © 2015 by Johnny DePalma. Illustrations copyright © 2015 by Kyle Brown. Reproduced by permission of the publisher, Umbrelly Books, Campbell, CA.

Purchase The Night Parade at Amazon—Book Depository—IndieBound Books—Apple Books—Umbrelly Books.

Find The Night Parade on Goodreads HERE.
The Night Parade Facebook page is HERE.

Meet the author, Johnny DePalma, at his website:  http://johnnydepalma.com/
Follow the author on Twitter      @johnnydepalma
Meet the illustrator, Kyle Brown, at instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/kidfromid/
Follow the artist on Twitter

AWARDS
Amazon Best Selling Book 2015

Also by Johnny DePalma
The Raindrop Keeper (art: Molly Crabapple)
Young Cupid! (art: Molly Crabapple)
Once Upon a Christmas Tree – A Holiday Fairy Tale (art: Molly Crabapple)

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THE NIGHT PARADE. Illustrations © 2015 by Kyle Brown. Used by permission of Umbrelly Books.

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Copyright © 2016 by Sue Morris/Kid Lit Reviews. All Rights Reserved

Full Disclosure: The Night Parade by Johnny DePalma & Kyle Brown, and received from Umbrelly Books, is in exchange NOT for a positive review, but for an HONEST review. The opinions expressed are my own and no one else’s. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”