A Good Night Walk

A Good Night Walk by Elisha Cooper
2005

     As night falls, a parent and child decide to go for a walk around the block. Each page of A Good Night Walk describes what they see as they walk down the street, "The leaves of the oak tree bend in the wind," "Squirrels chase each other from the telephone wire to the clothesline to the flag," "the screen door opens and shuts, echoing over the lawn."  The sky gets darker with each step and we see the street lamps light up as the walkers continue to describe the scene.  Eventually, parent and child turn around and see how the scene has changed as the moon comes up.
     A Good Night Walk is beautifully illustrated by Cooper.  I first learned of Cooper when I came across Beach and I've become a fan of his illustrations.  The descriptive text is great to use in the classroom.  In fact, this book can be used for text innovation where the students themselves take a walk around their neighborhood and recreate the story with their own descriptions.