The Midnight Fair

Product Information

CILIP is the leading voice for the information, knowledge management and library profession. Our goal is to put information and library skills and professional values at the heart of a democratic, equal and prosperous society. In my book, October is saved by stories. She is isolated, unusual, angry, friendless, lost, displaced, wild. But through stories she is able to connect to the world around her, and to the people around her. Stories make her who she is, but they also help her to see who other people are too. Stories make her a part of a new world, and keep her old life alive. They connect everything and everyone, and that’s what is so magical about stories. They build us, they anchor us, they let us be wild. They are everything.” It’s really short, and I would have loved more to the story, but it was very sweet and lovely. I do note that some readers had an issue with releasing a species where it doesn’t belong, and I feel that adults could talk to the children about why that’s a lovely sentiment, but why it’s not the best idea for the animals involved. That didn’t take away from the sweetness of the story for me. And imagine, if you would, forest creatures large and small, peering from the dense bushes and trees and watching all the activity, lights, fun, food, fabulous doings that the "fair" is to humans. The two medal winners were chosen from a shortlist of 16 – eight for each medal – by an expert team of volunteer judges, featuring 14 librarians from CILIP’s Youth Libraries Group based across the UK.

The Midnight Fair | Penguin Random House Retail The Midnight Fair | Penguin Random House Retail

Now available worldwide, Yoto have won awards and accolades from critics, parents and children alike. TIME Magazine even named it one of the Best Inventions of 2020 and the Mini won a prestigious D&AD Pencil in 2022. Despite all the merriment, The Midnight Fair is much more than a cute story about animals having fun. It’s entertaining and clever, but it never devolves into flippancy or silliness. Unhampered by the solidity and clarity of text, it maintains an ethereal aura of mystery and a sense of quiet dignity not often found in picture books with anthropomorphic animal protagonists. A spectacular, surreal and cinematic wordless picture book about the secret life of animals. Far from the city, but not quite in the countryside, lies a fairground. When night falls, and the fair is empty, something unexpected happens.

Take turns with your child to tell the story by looking at the pictures. Wordless stories like this are empowering – there are no rights or wrongs! Porcupines as sweet carriers, animals aboard animals on the merry-go-round, Deer and Kangaroo preparing for the ghost ride, Fox at the palm reading, Bear serving hot dogs; it seems as though the possibilities are endless. Furthermore, it seems that the animals have been waiting for this moment, or are familiar and practised in the attractions available. This was a short, sweet, beautifully illustrated story about animals who decide to visit a fair once all the humans go home. Like The Arrival by Shaun Tan, this is a book where the pictures tell the story. It’s shorter and less complex than Tan’s book, but very enjoyable. I could see getting a copy to share with my little nephews and niece. Thanks so much for your lovely message and for everything that you do with Book Wagon. Yourself and Bob are much cherished in our booky world and I personally really appreciate everything that you do. And for that, I’m thankful. Because out of that curious fascination came the most fantastic picture book, The Midnight Fair.

The Midnight Fair by Gideon Sterer, Mariachiara Di Giorgio

Both through the richness of its illustrations and through the book’s depiction of an ‘in-between’ liminal space, The Midnight Fair creates a magical world where the boundary between humans and animals is, for one splendid fictional night, suspended. Spread from The Midnight Fair by Gideon Sterer and Mariachiara Di Giorgio My other problem with the message of this goldfish liberation is that you should never introduce a non native species anywhere, I think in some places this would be illegal. Sadly England has virtually no red squirrels left because of the non native grey squirrels that were introduced, they are also threatening our door mice. Goldfish are also a very fragile specie of fish, unlike the more hardy shubunkins you can introduce them to de-chlorinated, established ponds with UV filters, water fountains for oxygen and they will still die because they are very sensitive to change, stress and a change in water temperature. Goldfish treated as fair prizes will almost certainly die.Balen’s October, October has done the double and scooped this year’s Shadowers’ Choice Award for the Yoto Carnegie Medal, after tens of thousands of young people across the UK and internationally read and debated the shortlisted books before voting for their favourites. The winner of the Shadowers’ Choice Award for the Yoto Kate Greenaway Medal is The Midnight Fair (Walker Books ) illustrated by Mariachiara Di Giorgio – an illustrator, storyboard artist and concept designer from Rome, Italy – and written by Gideon Sterer. It is a heart-warming, immersive wordless picture book that uncovers the secret life of animals who prowl a fairground at night, featuring sumptuous use of colour and contrast, which invoke all the senses.

ALCS | Story about off-grid living wins Yoto Carnegie Medal

One of my favorite moments is towards the end (but I can't tell you..) something involving a wolf... Lovely, sweet, funny. Just the thing for fans of anthropomorphized critters in children's stories, which is happily a lot of them. Wordless books well done are awesome, and this one is very well done. As Betsy Bird pointed out: the art is amazing. This is, I believe, the first time I have ever seen a separate author and illustrator listed on a wordless book, but it makes sense. It’s another Bookwagon day in our house. The kids were so excited to get their latest books in the post.Gideon Sterer is an American author whose books include Skyfishing, illustrated by Poly Bernatene, Not Your Nest, illustrated by Andrea Tsurumi, From Ed’s to Ned’s, illustrated by Ruth Cummins, and The Night Knights, illustrated by Cory Godbey, which has been optioned by Sony Pictures. Gideon grew up in the woods of upstate New York, where his parents owned a little zoo where he would run around after-hours and let the animals out. Thursday 16 th June 2022: The winners of the UK’s longest running and best-loved book awards for children and young people, the Yoto Carnegie Greenaway Awards were announced today in a ceremony at The British Library. A funfair closes for the night. As darkness comes, forest creatures come up to the gates and soon they have found a way in. There are beautiful scenes of animals riding in carousels and dodgem cars, eating popcorn and candyfloss and having a great time. In 2021, the Carnegie Medal was won by Jason Reynolds for Look Both Ways, and the Carnegie Shadowers’ Choice was awarded to Manjeet Mann for Run, Rebel. The Kate Greenaway Medal was won by Sydney Smith for Small in the City and Sharon King-Chai was awarded the Greenaway Shadowers’ Choice for Starbird.

The Midnight Fair by Gideon Sterer | Goodreads The Midnight Fair by Gideon Sterer | Goodreads

Of course goldfish shouldn’t be given as prizes at fairs, and yes, releasing them into the wild isn’t always the best thing to do. But let’s not take this book too literally. The author believes that goldfish should not be given as prizes as the fox releases it. For me, the core message of kindness and freedom far overrides anything else. Let’s give our young people the credit they deserve, they’re more than able to take onboard these messages without taking them too literally. Then in the late night hours, the fair closes. The people go home. No human is around. And then...... the forest creatures begin to enjoy themselves. What happens after the midway closes and rides shut down for the night? A lively after-hours adventure. . .Di Giorgio interprets Sterer’s wordless tale in a rich, soft palette, with dramatic full openings and multiple detailed frames conveying the excitement, the lights, the smells of popcorn and fairground foods, the sounds of rides and riders. . .Gorgeously whimsical and utterly convincing. At the story’s heart (for m

Captivating spreads by Di Giorgio ( Professional Crocodile) tell a wordless story about a night of magic for a forest’s animal denizens. . .Watching a whole forest full of creatures encounter the fair delivers a sheaf of unexpected delights—especially when they take pleasure in all the same things their human counterparts do.