The House in the Night - by Susan Marie Swanson

About the Book

A spare, patterned text and glowing pictures explore the origins of light that make a house a home, in this bedtime book for young children. Full color.

Book Synopsis

This Caldecott Medal-winning picture book gets children ready for bed with rhythmic text and glowing illustrations that explore the warmth and light that makes us feel at home.

"Here is the key to the house."

Inside the house are nighttime things both comforting and intriguing--a bed, many books--and outside, too, there are sources of light and joy--the moon, the sky--that reveal a reassuring order in the universe. This timeless bedtime tale takes readers through the house in the night, up into the sky, and back home again, all the while reminding us of the presence of love and wonder in our world.

Susan Marie Swanson's spare verse and Beth Kromme's astonishing illustrations intertwine to create a comforting, magical story to revisit again and again.

Review Quotes

"Krommes's widening perspective manages to exude both comfort and daring." -- New York Times Book Review "Here the art is spectacular. Executed in scratchboard decorated in droplets of gold, Krommes' illustrations expand on Swanson's reassuring story (inspired by a nursury rhyme that begins, "This is the key of the kingdom") to create a world as cozy inside a house as it is majestic outside."--Booklist, starred review "Inspired by traditional cumulative poetry, Swanson weaves a soothing song that is as luminescent and soulful as the gorgeous illustrations that accompany her words. . . . It is a masterpiece that has all the hallmarks of a classic that will be loved for generations to come."--School Library Journal, starred review "Krommes's breathtaking scratchboard illustrations, in black and white with accents of yellow and gold, embody and enhance the text's message that light and dark, like comfort and mystery, are not mutually exclusive, but integral parts of each other."--Kirkus Reviews, starred review "This volume's artful simplicity, homely wisdom and quiet tone demonstrate the interconnected beauty and order of the world in a way that both children and adults will treasure."--Publishers Weekly, starred review "...in another standout performance by an illustrator, Beth Krommes makes a case for The House in the Night with scratchboard images that are themselves a throwback, but with a welcome kind of familiarity... I can see a night-skittish child taking comfort in this story at bedtime."-- The Washington Post (online) "[A] book of stunning visual simplicity . . . The pictures themselves seem to reach out from domesticity toward infinity."--Liz Rosenberg, Boston Sunday Globe "It's Wanda Gag meets Virginia Lee Burton. And gorgeous. Did I mention gorgeous? Gorgeous."-- Fuse 8 Production (online), by Betsy Bird "[Swanson] has a lyrical style all her own, complemented by Krommes' starkly stunning scratchpaper drawings."-- StarTribune --