Tippy and the Night Parade by Lilli Carré

It would be fun to talk with them about the different beasts shown and which ones they’d like to see. Tippy and the Night Parade is an attractive, classically done simple tale, particularly good for kids who love animals. Tippy’s daytime pages are done in burnt orange, while the night are a lovely deep smokey blue. She picks up a parade of followers as she goes, with a wide variety of settings and creatures pictured. Then we get to see just what Tippy does on her “nightly stroll”, wandering past a fisherman, through the garden, across the pond, and down to the forest. She can’t provide an explanation when her mother asks, but they work together to clean up before she settles down again for the evening. Tippy wakes up in her bedroom, but it’s scattered with animals and the debris they’ve left behind. It’s imaginative, clever, and rewards rereading to catch all the details. That’s why, of this batch, this was my favorite. (The publisher provided some of the following as review copies.) Tippy and the Night ParadeĪdults aren’t the audience for these books, obviously, but a lot of adults will wind up reading them to kids, and they’ll prefer the ones that don’t make them crazy or bored. We Dig Worms! came out this past spring the others last year and the year before. They’re recommended for those age 3-8 or approximately kindergarten and first grade. Level 1 are “first comics for brand new readers” that feature few images, short sentences, simple vocabulary, and easy-to-understand premises. (Feb.Toon Books ranks its publications, which are aimed at young readers, according to reading level, to make it easier for educators, librarians, and parents to find the right books. is falling asleep!” Carré’s curvy cartoons brim with quirky humor, and although Tippy is unconscious throughout her adventure, it’s evident that she’s the sort of girl whose waking life is plenty interesting, too. “I don’t know, Mama,” Tippy replies as a goat chews on her hair. “What is this mess?” her mother shouts the next morning. “Maybe I walked out into the garden,” she muses, doing just that as a protective crab clings to her nightgown, “because I wanted to hop across the lily pads.” As Tippy wanders through Carré’s panels, falling down a “big hole” and emerging in a cactus patch, she acquires a train of animals that leave her bedroom in disarray. Tippy narrates in suppositional speech bubbles (she’s a sleep-talker, too).

Except for a few scenes bathed in the pale oranges of sunset and sunrise, Carré uses a palette of steely gray-blues as bedheaded Tippy strides out the front door-eyes closed, and the trace of a smile on her lips. Carré (Heads or Tails) brings her talents to a younger audience with the story of a girl’s somnambulism and the chaos it creates.

Tippy and the Night Parade by Lilli Carré