Imagine a Night

Thomson, Sarah. Imagine A Night. Illus. Gonsalves, Rob. Toronto: Antheum Books for Young Readers, 2003.

This book presents an interesting relationship between image and text, one where the paintings clearly came first and the text was written as an effort to create an overarching narrative framework (if not exactly a story) in which this series of images becomes a picture book. Rob Gonsalves paintings take visual cues from the the surrealists and the mathematical trompe l'oeil work of Escher, to create unearthly images of night in which ordinary and often somewhat domestic scenes transform at one edge into wild living landscapes: quilted bedspreads become the pattern of farmer's fields as seem from a plane far above; deep drifts of snow become rectangles of white bedding ready for sleepers. In the world of picture books, this book is visually reminiscent of the work of Anthony Browne, although the narrative is much less complex. The narrative isn't really a story at all, but more of a companion to the paintings which are the dominant focus of the book. Kids, especially older ones, with an eye for detail and a keen sense of imagination may enjoy the paintings and lyrical language, but those who read for plot, humor or character may be less engaged.