Lights Out Leonard

Lights Out Leonard by Josh Pyke, illustrated by Chris Nixon (Puffin Books) HB RRP $19.99 ISBN 978 0123793489

Reviewed by Dianne Bates

Here is yet another picture book about a child who doesn’t want to go to bed, this time with the lights out. Leonard doesn’t mind the dark, but he’s afraid that monsters are there when the lights are out. Of course, his tired parents try all kinds of methods of getting him to bed with the lights out, but nothing succeeds until they find a clever trick.

This is a simple story with vivid descriptions by Leonard of the monsters he fears (such as ‘five-nosed, seven-tailed, eleven-handed, scaly-waily monsters’). Befitting the subject matter, the illustrations are all encased in dark blues with black spaces. The illustrator makes clever use of patterns with interesting shapes and spaces that perfectly capture the mood of the book.

Children with night fears will find this story helpful – and perhaps their parents will, too.