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In this book, a boy recounts a nighttime
trip with his father, driving west across the prairie to the mountains
where they're going to camp out. While the story unfolds in the present
tense, the luminous soft black and white pencil drawings evoke the late-40s
or early 50s. Many highways then had only two lanes, and the rhythms
of the night beat more slowly. Dad elects to drive at night because
it's cooler and there's less traffic. "How late can I stay up?" the
boy asks. "As late as you want," Dad says.
The book reminds us of when we saw the nighttime world as a place of
mystery, and merely staying up late thrilled us. The story depicts a
boy's delight in entering this adult world, and his father's pleasure
in nurturing his son's growth. The simple events of the trip act as
snapshots of the complex and caring relationship of father and son,
much as breakfast chats and birthdays illuminate daily life in Thorton
Wilder's Pulitzer Prize-winning play, Our Town.
As they drive, Dad spots two mule deer near the road. The boy watches
as the deer leap a fence and bound into a field. Dad and son listen
to a baseball game, and then western music. Dad teaches his son cowboy
songs, and they sing together. They also play alphabet games. Dad tells
stories about when he was a boy. The boy looks at his face and imagines
what he was like. Later, Dad talks about his father. "Your grandpa was
left-handed and a fine pitcher. He might have played in the big leagues,
but he hurt his arm one summer when he threw too much." Then Dad stops
talking, and the boy knows he's thinking about his father. "I wish my
grandpa was still here," the boy reflects.
The only untoward event of the night is a flat tire. It's easily fixed.
The boy holds the flashlight while his Dad gets out his tools and puts
on the spare. Afterward, looking at the night sky, Dad shows the boy
how to draw a line from the bottom of the big dipper to Polaris, the
North Star. They stop for breakfast at an all-night diner. "The pancakes
are so big they cover the plate," the boy reports. "Night driving makes
me really hungry."
The language in this book is spare, elegant, and often poetic. "I imagine
the car as a giant mouth gobbling up the road," the boy says. "Behind
us, like a giant's night light, the full moon has risen." When they
leave the diner, just after sunrise, the boy sees "giant peaks, sharp
as bear's teeth, that push into the sky."
Fathers will enjoy reading this book to their sons, but mothers and
daughters will love it, too, moving easily to talking about their own
shared experiences.
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