review
Three Pieces of Night (original title: Trois petits morceaux de nuit) is a story about perseverance and unconditional love. It was written by Rose-Marie Vassallo and the illustrations were created by Godelaine de Rosamel. A book to read to children from the age of four.
Data from the book Three Pieces of Night
- Original title: Trois petits morceaux de nuit
- Text: Rose-Marie Vassallo
- Translated from the French by: Lieke van Duin
- Illustrations: Godeleine de Rosamel
- Publisher: Mercis Publishing-Allasso
- Published: 2006
- Genre: children’s book / picture book
- Number of pages: 34
- ISBN: 978 90 5647 118 7
- Suitable for: children from four / five years old
About the writer, Rose-Marie Vassallo
Rose-Marie Vassallo was born in 1946 in Niort. At first she wanted to work in the advertising world. She first wrote children’s books under a pseudonym. She has been an English translator since 1976 and has translated more than 350 books, mainly children’s books, but also novels, essays and books on gardening.
About the illustrator, Godeleine de Rosamel
Godeleine was born in the north of France in 1968. She studied art at Ecole de Recherche Graphique in Brussels with the intention of becoming a graphic designer. Four years later she graduated with a degree in photography but started a career as an illustrator and painter. She worked in Paris for more than ten years and then moved to Los Angeles (2001) with her husband (from California). Godeleine has already illustrated many children’s books. Many of these books have been translated and published in the Netherlands, Spain, Greece, Turkey, China and the United States. Godeleine also writes stories, she gets her inspiration from her family.
The story Three pieces of night
One night three pieces of night fall from the sky. They are dark and bald, do not know where they are and are hungry. A mouse walking by, like all mothers on Earth, understands that the little ones are hungry. But what kind of babies are they? The mouse goes in search of their parents along with the pieces of night.
But no one has lost the little ones and no one likes them. The mole, the shrew, the nightingale and the jay think they are ugly and miserable. Mrs. Mouse explains that babies are almost never beautiful. They need to be cuddled before they start to look like anything. But the other animals keep screaming.
Mrs. Mouse carries them to her house. Life is complicated but there is always a solution. She decides to raise the little ones herself. First she finds out what the animals like. No grains, nuts or stale bread, but they do like larvae. Things get even more complicated when they get wings and Mrs. Mouse can’t get off the ground herself. Fortunately she gets help from the swallow, the little ones get flying lessons. After a few lessons, the swallow reports that they yawn during the day and cannot be stopped at night. From the nightjar they learn how to fly at full speed, catch mosquitoes and mosquitoes.
When summer is over, the nightjar migrates south. Because Mrs. Mouse can’t come along, the little ones won’t go either. When it gets cold, they wrap themselves in their wings. Mrs. Mouse is afraid that the cat will eat them and hangs the little ones with their hook feet from a rooster beam. When winter is over, the bugs open their wings and fly into the night.
The text and illustrations
On the front cover a white mouse sitting on the floor looking at the stars. In large letters, each word in a different color, the title (Three pieces of night). You see three stars around these words. Next to the mouse are the names of the writer and the illustrator, each with a star. The image continues on the back of the book, in a white circle it is briefly what the story is about. Three stars are depicted under the circle. The bracts of the book are red, the first flyleaf shows nothing, the last flyleaf contains a lot of bats. Even before the story starts, an image of three bats actually gives the plot a bit away. The white circle returns on the first page, next to it the three pieces of night are depicted, elongated brown / green with very large eyes. On each subsequent drawing you see the creatures change, you see ears, wings and so on. All animals that appear in the story are generously depicted and easily recognizable. The illustrator has used warm colors. With every image you will find text, they are short sentences that are pleasant to read. The Sentence Life is complicated, but there is always a solution, occurs several times in the story, this is not a sentence that children will use. But otherwise the text is easy to follow for a child of five / six years. The text is printed in black, even if the text is placed in the illustration, it is easy to read.
An excerpt from the book
“Oh la la,” Mrs. Mouse sighed.
Life is complicated.
But there is always a solution. ??
She gave each of the little ones a long lick
and carried them to her house.
She would raise them herself.
My opinion of Three Pieces of Night
What a fun and beautiful story. Mrs. Mouse is so sweet to the bits of night that turn out to be bats. It is a story about perseverance and unconditional love, but also a beautiful fantasy story about how bats are born.