Once Upon a Northern Night

"This is a bedtime read. It’s really quiet and settling. It’s the pictures that draw me in, but I love the pace of this book. The language is soft and comforting. This book is like a big blanket. You can wrap yourself up in it. Visually, I was drawn to the limited colour palette. Colour is something that interests me in picture books, and to me, here it is handled really sensitively, and it works really well. I love the use of the white space on the page. At the beginning it seems quite dark and minimal, but you’re drawn in into this magical night, and I think the use of tone and colour worked perfectly with the poem. I think, visually, it’s poetic. The whole things just works. The words and the pictures work perfectly together. It’s very atmospheric. Absolutely charming. It is beautifully written and really quite moving."