The Night Worker

I wonder what percentage of kids under five know that there are people working while they are sleeping.  Here's a book to both educate them as well as comfort those kids whose parents actually do work at night.    

THREE PROS

*Half the book is dedicated to cranes, bulldozers, et al -- which is like crack to most kids in the age range it strives to reach

*Georg Hallensleben's "pictures" are absolutely fabulous to look at (with one small issue noted below)

*Kate Banks tells a complete story and does so with a little artistic flair in her wordsmithing to boot

THREE CONS 

*Little Alex is allowed to operate heavy machinery on a construction site -- try explaining to your son or daughter that this is not an option for him/her next time you walk by a new high-rise footprint

*I assume the dad is taking him down on his day off; otherwise he might not be employed much longer if he feels it's appropriate to show up to work for 30 minutes, stand around, and then head back home (on second thought, maybe that's why these projects always take eight times longer than expected)

*The perspective in the drawings is off in places, unless this takes place in a world of tiny dump trucks or ten foot tall men

ONE DAD'S OPINION

If you look at my pros and cons, it appears that I am very complimentary of the book and can only find minute reasons not to like it.  But that viewpoint would downplay the importance of the first two cons in my mind.  As much as I enjoy a good dose of fantasy, The Night Worker carries with it the potential for tantrum-causing situations down the line.  [The first being vehicle-operation and the second being the idea of bringing children to an unreasonable location, after their bedtime no less.]  And even if I am totally over-weighting these negatives, I still don't feel comfortable giving it a Buy because it lacks a level of inspiration I would want in a book of this style.  Borrow it.                                                    

Buy / BORROW / Donate / Destroy