The Lights and Types of Ships at Night by Annie Dills, Dave Eggers
Published by McSweeney's on October 20, 2020
ISBN: 1952119073
Pages: 32
Format: Picture Book Nonfiction
Goodreads

I’ve never wondered this before but is it possible to have illustrations be too good? So good that they maybe even detract, or at least distract, from the text? I guess it’s a good problem to have. The illustrations in this book are startling and I found myself begrudgingly reading  the text because I couldn’t wait  to get to the next page, which was a shame because the text is informative and has Eggers’ natural and easygoing sense of humor.  Each page is a different kind of water vessel at night, illuminated by their lights in the dark. Eggers describes each vessel’s function but the book is mostly about how majestic they all are. He’s right and it’s always nice to take a step back and think about the beauty of something we might take for granted.  The backdrop of stars on the pages makes each one look like some kind of glowing space ship, so Eggers’ text is helpful in bringing us back down to earth.

Reviewed by Sarah Maciejewski, Curtis Memorial Library, Brunswick