The Horn Book Guide

PRESCHOOL

Sidman, Joyce

Before Morning

48 pp. | Houghton | October, 2016 | Trade ISBN 978-0-547-97917-5 $17.99

(1) PS Illustrated by Beth Krommes. After a series of wordless illustrations, Sidman's poetic text begins ("In the deep woolen dark, as we slumber unknowing"). A child's mother, dressed in pilot uniform, departs. The ensuing incantation is for snow to come ("Let the air turn to feathers, the earth turn to sugar"), and, sure enough, a blizzard grounds planes. Krommes's scratchboard illustrations do the narrative work in this mesmerizing book.

Reviewer: Megan Dowd Lambert | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2016