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| Alexandra Junge |
| Wingedchariot Press |
| 1905341067 |
| May 2006 |
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Originally published in Germany, "A Night-Time Tale" is the latest European picture-book offering made available by Wingedchariot press. The book opens as Laura, a nychtophobe, descends into bed postulating over why it has to get dark. Alexandra Junge’s illustrations brilliantly portray the way darkness leaches forth from Laura’s unconscious mind and the types of primitive, base fears, twisted torturously into the horrific far from the familiar or recognisable that proliferates amidst the darkness.
Taking her fears to the logical, if extreme conclusion, Laura wonders why it cannot always be daytime and ponders over a world without night. Laura’s imagination and the illustrations depicting this verge on the surreal as astronomers pan the sky fervently looking for stars, as giant road-rollers level no-longer-needed lamp-posts, as confusions of chickens wonder when to lay breakfast eggs, as plants grow to ever more extreme heights, as the sun lapses into exhaustion and as there are no more dreams, no endless possibilities and escape from the fears of the everyday. “A Night-Time Tale” is a reassuring read that challenges readers to look and think beyond their initial fears and in so doing that introduces us to impressively wide and varied imaginative vistas.
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