Night watch by Jodi Toering and Tannya Harricks

Subtitled, A bush ballad for bedtime, this story of an owl flying over the Australian bush will have readers wanting to read it again as they take in the rhythm of the text.

As the sun sets it is time for the tawny frogmouth to start her journey. With the light of the moon to guide her, she begins her night watch, along with her partner. 

All is well as they fly over a host of animals, some nestling down to sleep, others watchful in the night. The tawny frogmouth greets her mate and together they fly over their domain. They see the quail burrowing into the soft earth beneath the grasslands, the cockatoo and her fledging in their hollow in the tree,  koala and her baby nestled in the fork of a tree, echidnas nestling into their fallen tree trunk till morning, a wallaby with a joey in her pouch, and an emu lying on his stomach, stretched out, camouflaged against the earth, a numbat and her brood asleep on the burrow, a pygmy possum in his crevice nest. Each of the animals seen is going to sleep for the night, an event heralded for the young child listening to the story. With the moon overhead, time for sleep is nigh, and the soft rhythmic tones of the text add to the feeling of the end for day.

Each animal is seen in its habitat, and something is learned about that animal in the short description. 

The illustrations, set against the night sky and the luminous moon, add to the feeling that sleep is on the horizon. Several images standout: the owl across the front cover with her waiting eyes, is repeated on every page, watching over the mob. The shadows of the eucalyptus is haunting and the arrival of the sun greets the new day is magnificently portrayed at the end of the book, contrasting vividly with the faded, grey atmosphere of the night. 

Themes: Night, Moon, Owls, Australian animals.

Fran Knight