Night Shift

Product Description:

Subjects: Preschool Picture Story Books, Children's Books/Ages 4-8 Fiction, Children: Kindergarten, Business, Careers, Occupations, Concepts - Time, People & Places - General, Juvenile Fiction / Concepts / Time, Juvenile Fiction / General, Juvenile Fiction / People & Places / General, Fiction, Juvenile Fiction, Night, Occupations,

Rutgers University Project on Economics and Children
Children often find guessing games a source of amusement, and night-time activities a source of intrigue. Night Shift has a good dose of both, with fascinating job descriptions linked together across the pages. Over the course of a single night that progressively moves towards daybreak, the reader meets people who work in a variety of occupations. Each worker somehow bumps into the next as the reader turns the page to guess which job it will be. Colorful illustrations and the upbeat prose enhance the book's appeal. Parents and teachers will find Night Shift a valuable tool for teaching children about human resources and different types of employment.

Night Shift
This picture book introduces the reader to some of the people who work at night including: a street sweeper, a security guard, a newspaper printer and a road worker. At the end of each description of a night worker, the author poses a question that leads to the next worker, "Whose late-night work outside the window distracts the printer?" leads to bridge painters or "Whose night shift slows down the truck in the middle of the night?" transitions to a road worker. Simple descriptive sentences or phrases accompany each double-spread illustration. "A backhoe breaks up the old road." "What a mess! But better to fix it now than at rush hour." Gouache paintings convey the energy of the workers and the feel of nighttime: painters stride up bridge towers each holding a pail and a brush and to the side is a small car that is spattered with paint, a brightly lit room at a zoo reveals some "nocturnal animals" like an owl monkey -with a face that looks more like a lion than a monkey- and a series of machines that spit out newspapers. There is an unfortunate stereotype: a man with a turban is driving a "Night Owl Taxi". Children will enjoy seeing activities that take place when they are asleep.