On Friday nights when the sun goes down, a young boy joins his father for a motorcycle ride to the school where dad has a cleaning job. Sometimes the boy helps with jobs like sweeping the halls, but most of the time he is engaged in his own childlike activities: shooting hoops in the school gym, listening to a baseball game on the radio, reading a book and then sleeping on a couch in the school library. Although the father is clearly working hard, there are some gentle, intimate moments between the two. They take a break at 10:00 pm to eat egg salad sandwiches in the courtyard, they hoot together as they ride the motorcycle over a hill on the way home, they fall asleep together in the big recliner once there. The soft, muted illustrations give a strong sense of a quiet night where father and son appear to be the only ones awake, and the language of the narrative is stunningly evocative of an important shared experience between father and son. (Ages 4–7)

With lyrical narration and elegant, evocative artwork, Newbery Medalist Karen Hesse and illustrator G. Brian Karas share the nighttime experience of a father and child.

When the sun sets, Dad’s job as a school custodian is just beginning. What is it like to work on a Friday night while the rest of the city is asleep? There’s the smell of lilacs in the night air, the dusky highway in the moonlight, and glimpses of shy nighttime animals to make the dark magical. Shooting baskets in the half-lit gym, sweeping the stage with the game on the radio, and reading out loud to his father in the library all help the boy’s time pass quickly. But what makes the night really special is being with Dad. Newbery Medalist Karen Hesse’s quietly powerful story of a boy and his father is tenderly brought to life by G. Brian Karas in this luminous tribute to an enduring, everyday sort of love.