Whooo Is Still Awake?

Irresistible repeating sounds and a flipped script on bedtime make this nocturnal animal story from Barrager (Fred’s Big Feelings) fun lights-out reading. Two plump, kernel-shaped owls awaken in a tree hollow, one cracking open a single bright yellow eye before the two soar into a pink-streaked night sky rendered in digitally finished crayon and watercolor. With reiterative calls of “Whooo?” and rhyming variations (about a family of skunks, “Pew! Pew!”), the two greet other night animals making their rounds. Spotting one long-snouted critter hanging from a tree with the glowing eyes of young on her back, they call, “Ooh! Whooo?/ Someone new?/ A mama possum—/ and babies, too!” A rosy-fingered dawn signals the end of the outing, and as a sprawling spiderweb glistens “bright with dew,” the owls retreat back to their home, ready for a good day’s sleep. Like the avian duo, other creatures appear in almost silhouetted, minimally detailed shapes throughout, heightening readers’ sense of being let in on nighttime’s secret world. Ages 4–8. Agent: Kirsten Hall, Catbird Productions. (Dec.)