Monday, April 13, 2009

Night Vision

When I was very small, The Cat at Night by Dahlov Ipcar was one of my favorite books. It's a disarmingly simple story about about a farm cat on his nightly walkabout, with illustrations by the author that show first what we humans see at night...

...and then what the cat sees.

I was a night owl even then, and there was something about the way the mysterious dark silhouettes turned to technicolor with the flick of a page that seemed like magic to me. Click to enlarge selected spreads below:








The Cat at Night was sadly long out of print; I poached my copy back while visiting my parents in Idaho a few years ago. But – just in time for those long spring and summer evenings – Islandport Press re-released the book last month, which is great news for kids (and kids at heart) everywhere. The book can be purchased here, and more information about Ipcar can be found at the website set up by the author/artist's son, Bob. Happy travels.

2 comments:

The 1 Q said...

Fantastic illustrations!

Anonymous said...

Oh my God. I have been looking for this book for years! I had it when I was a kid and don't have a copy and only knew vaguely that it was about a cat's night vision - I did internet searches a few years ago but didn't turn up anything. Thank you so much!!!!