The Blue Hour

by Isabelle Simler

Overview

A lovely and tranquil celebration of nature

The sun has set, the day has ended, but the night hasn't quite arrived yet. This magical twilight is known as the blue hour. Everything in nature—sky, water, flowers, birds, foxes—comes together in a symphony of blue to celebrate the merging of night and day.

With its soothing text and radiant artwork, this elegant picture book displays the majesty of nature and reminds readers that beauty is fleeting but also worth savoring.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780802854889
Publisher:	Eerdmans, William B. Publishing Company
Publication date:	02/20/2017
Pages:	42
Sales rank:	631,863
Product dimensions:	9.30(w) x 13.10(h) x 0.40(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Isabelle Simler has written and illustrated over twenty children's books. The Blue Hour, Sweet Dreamers, My Wild Cat, Plume, and A Perfect Spot (all Eerdmans) were each featured in the Society of Illustrators "The Original Art" annual exhibition, and Plume was named a New York Times Best Illustrated Children's Book. Isabelle lives in France. Follow her on Instagram @isabellesimler or visit her website at isabellesimler.com.

Editorial Reviews

Catholic News Service
“Rarely does a book so beautifully capture with images and prose the majesty that is God’s creation of nature.”

The Wall Street Journal
"Richly Illustrated. . . . Each shade of blue seems prettier and more dramatic than the one before, giving emphasis to the color's remarkable tonal varieties in a picture book that both dazzles and soothes."

Kirkus Reviews
"A visual rhapsody in blue. . . . Each image dazzles."

School Library Journal (STARRED review)
"With its calming tone and gorgeous visuals, this title is a unique choice for bedtime collections and a glorious introduction to the natural world."

Omnivoracious
"Visually stunning. . . . The Blue Hour would be perfect for bedtime reading: its lovely images might wing their way into a fortunate child's dreams."

From the Publisher

★ 03/01/2017
K-Gr 3—This stunning ode to the "blue hour" celebrates the time of day between sunset and night. Beginning with endpapers that itemize more than 30 evocatively named shades of blue (peacock, azure, periwinkle, celadon), the striking oversize spreads feature richly textured images of blue mammals, sea creatures, birds, insects, and plants, many of whose "blueness" extends to their name. "A blue fox slips through the arctic cold. Among the water lilies, blue poison dart frogs gather, croaking to each other." While the text is spare, it manages to convey the peace that befits the transition from day to night in the natural world. But the glory of this book is the majestic illustrations, drawn in a fine scratch art style. As twilight progresses, the underlying oranges and yellows in feathers, wings, and leaves glow against the deepening blue until darkness leaves nothing but a brilliant moon, stars, and silhouettes. The final page includes a map showing where each of the animals can be found. VERDICT With its calming tone and gorgeous visuals, this title is a unique choice for bedtime collections and a glorious introduction to the natural world.—Teri Markson, Los Angeles Public Library

School Library Journal

2016-12-26
A visual rhapsody in blue.The front endpapers of this slightly oversized picture book offer 32 daubs of blue ranging in value from pale blue to midnight blue, giving readers a sense of what's to come. The opening text relates, "The day ends. / The night falls. / And in between… / there is the blue hour." This is printed in blue, natch, on a pale-blue sky. As readers turn the pages, they are introduced to a dizzying variety of blue creatures, some generic (blue-feathered songbirds, silver-blue sardines) and others exotically specific (vulturine guineafowl, blue monkeys, blue poison dart frogs). As the titular "blue hour" progresses, page backgrounds deepen, until the final page, which presents silhouettes of many of the animals and plants described against a midnight-blue, star-spangled sky. Taken individually, each image dazzles, from an astonishing close-up of a blue morpho butterfly to an expansive landscape, the slightly paler-blue silhouette of a Russian blue cat slinking off in the bottom right-hand corner. Taken all together, however, there is a frustrating lack of definition, as these flora and fauna do not all inhabit one biome or even time zone, as the rear endpapers, a map of the world with white silhouettes of the animals placed where they are found, attest. This dismantles the inviting conceit of the "blue hour" as an organizational concept. Lovely, if poorly hung together. (Picture book. 4-8)

Kirkus Reviews