Overview

Two starred reviews! Magic comes to life when night arrives in this “lyrical” (BCCB, starred review) picture book full of “dreamy coziness” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review) with gorgeous illustrations by Caldecott Honoree Cindy Derby about embracing the beauty of darkness. The dark is for flying. The dark is for shining. The dark is for dreaming… Though darkness can be scary, beauty can be found in the stillness of the shadows. And in this stunning tale filled with poetic words and gorgeous art, we celebrate the darkness. From the creatures dancing in the blackness of the deep sea to those that wake when night falls in the forest, we feel the magic come to life. Jane Kohuth’s musical text and Cindy Derby’s stunning illustrations take us on an unforgettable journey to all the spectacular wonders that can only be found in the darkest of places.

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9781665906777

Table of Contents

Reviews

This lyrical picture book embraces all the magic that can be found in the dark: shading the sky when the sun finally sinks, cooling down a hot day, offering an opportunity to see the stars, and resetting the world for tomorrow. Darkness is a quiet time for some and the beginning of a waking period for others, and, in some places like the depths of the ocean or a deep cave, dark is a permanent state of being. Kohuth’s descriptions are dreamy and artistic, relying on a repeating refrain, “the dark is for . . . ” to connect disparate concepts (from scientific musings on plant growth to the more poetic imaginings of nighttime storytelling) under one shared umbrella. The text is paired with incredible mixed media artwork, with double-page spreads that first celebrate the rosy shades of dusk and dawn but mostly champion the rich cobalt, indigo, and azure of night. Small, surprise details, like a banjo-playing frog hidden among the heavy greens and blues of a lake at night, invite careful, repeat viewings, as does the open-ended text that allows for individual interpretation. Listeners who are afraid of the dark may well find something inspiring here to temper that concern, or they will at least store away the knowledge that, for many living things, the dark is as imperative as the light. AS -- BCCB, Starred Review * January 2026 * An appreciation of darkness as experienced by three siblings and their dog. Dramatic spreads featuring darkness in settings as varied as the ocean, the sky, the shade of a tree, and the interior of a chrysalis are inspired by short passages of blank verse, each ending in the titular phrase, completed. “The dark is for calming”—and for “cooling,” “shining,” “seeing,” and “storytelling.” Kohuth’s language and Derby’s art are, by turns, rich and expansive or precise and intimate. A mixed-media spectrum of colors—with blues ranging from pale to inky—convey the changing moods and perspectives. In a spectacular storm scene, Derby takes advantage of the way watercolor finds its own path as amorphous, pink-tinged clouds rise above a theatrical, blue-black gale that foregrounds lightning bolts. This dark is “for storming.” In other compositions, minuscule details delight: a goofy, banjo-picking frog serenading the moon; delicate flowers and insects; a rabbit, safe in its burrow. The first-person plural narration presents darkness as benevolent, sometimes mysterious, often protective: “When we tuck away treasure, / we find the dimmest spot.” After their time outdoors, the trio (two are brown-skinned; one has light skin) are welcomed home by their brown-skinned mama, who tells them not to “be afraid to let in the dark” seen behind closed eyelids. Even the most dark-averse readers will take heed; here, the dark is for dreamy coziness. Bedtime (or anytime) bliss -- Kirkus Starred Review * February 1, 2026 * With gentle prose, Kohuth shines light on the beauty of darkness. This is as much a celebration of nature as it is of the special gifts in the darkness. Each vignette offers a poetic reflection: an owl takes flight, and “the dark is for flying.” A butterfly transforms, and “the dark is for growing.” A mother tells stories, because “the dark is for storytelling.” Derby uses soft watercolor ­illustrations to complement the quiet mood of the book, with muted tones touched with glimmers of light. While this works beautifully as a bedtime story, the carefully crafted poems also invite reflection and discussion with readers of all ages. Each poem could stand alone and lead to class discussions of what other things fly, grow, listen, and shine in the night. Bookended by a sunset at the opening and a sunrise at the end, the book closes with the reassuring message that “the dark is for bringing tomorrow.” VERDICT A stunning celebration of the darkness and all the wonders it holds. –Heidi Dechief -- School Library Journal * 1/1/2026 * Kohuth (Something on the Hill) and Derby (Wheetle) offer up a hymn to the dark’s graces in this conceptual work. Loose, expressive multimedia illustrations portray children of various skin tones reveling in a woodsy, hilly landscape as the sun heads out of view. Magnification shifts throughout, from a cinematic opening spread in which a trio lolls under a massive tree on a hot day (“The dark is for calming”) to a depiction of a child ecstatically drumming with a thunderhead (“The dark is for storming”) to an intimate chrysalis close-up (“The dark is for growing”). When the moon rises, the children become audience members “in the theater of night,” where “crickets take up their bows,/ frogs their banjos and flutes./ Coyotes sing.” In this work about wrapping oneself in “the dark... like a blanket,” the subject isn’t absence but presence—its own world of possibilities waiting to be embraced and savored. Ages 4–8. Author’s agent: Teresa Kietlinski, Bookmark Literary. Illustrator’s agent: Jennifer Laughran, Andrea Brown Literary. (Mar.) -- Publishers Weekly * 12/8/2025 *

Author Information

Jane Kohuth is the author of several picture books and early readers, including Duck Sock Hop, a Chicago Public Library and Bank Street Best Book of the Year; Anne Frank’s Chestnut Tree, a Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People; and the recent Something on the Hill, which received a starred review from School Library Journal. Jane grew up in Brooklyn, New York, filling notebooks with poetry, journal entries, and unfinished novels. She graduated from Brandeis University with a degree in English and creative writing and from Harvard Divinity School with a master’s degree in theological studies. She has worked as a children’s room library assistant, a writing teacher, and a children’s bookseller and organizer of author events and has been a Jewish educator for many years. Jane lives with her husband, son, and two cats in a crooked old house by woods and wetland in Holliston, Massachusetts, where she loves listening to the night sounds, from the spring peepers to the coyotes howling. Cindy Derby is an author and illustrator of many critically acclaimed books for children, including Outside In by Deborah Underwood, which received a 2021 Caldecott Honor as well as five starred reviews. NPR has called her illustrations “mesmerizing,” and The New York Times regards her work as “profound…alive…and wonderfully out of control.” Cindy’s books have been translated all over the world and have also been awarded a Golden Kite Honor for Picture Book Illustration, a Crystal Kite Award, and international awards such as France’s Philosophia Jeunesse Prize and the Alpaca Award (bronze medal) in Japan’s Kembuchi Picture Book Awards. She lives in San Francisco with her family.

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