Silver

Slowly, silently, now the moon/Walks the night in her silver shoon; This way, and that, she peers, and sees/Silver fruit upon silver trees.

In a new illustrated version of Walter de la Mare's classic poem, this picture book follows the night-time adventures of the moon, depicted here as a cat by the tremendously talented Carolina Rabei. The book's colours are the deep blues, silvers and greys of a moonlit night, and Rabei's new interpretation of the lulling rhyme depicts a girl and a boy waking up and following the moon-cat and a cast of animal characters into the woods to enjoy a party under the stars, before falling asleep in a fairy boat on the silver water.

This is a lovely book for sharing at bedtime, with lots of opportunity for talking about the pictures that are soft and full and enchanting detail. The ethereal feel of the illustrations and the soft rhythm of the text makes it a perfect sleepy time read, as well as being an easy introduction to poetry.