Night in the Country

                      Night in the Country by Cynthia Rylant

Night in the Country is one of my favorite Cynthia Rylant books. Her voice and craft make a "night on the farm" a genuine experience for all readers. Rylant focuses on the various "goings on" that happen at night on a farm when the humans are fast asleep. Familiar sounds and happenings that are common but seldom thought about are explained (how often we take the sound of frogs chirping, stairs creaking, and birds singing for granted!) The story transitions between an outside and inside perspective. One moment we are outside sitting quietly, listening carefully to an apple drop while watching rabbits eating, then the next we are on top of the stairs hearing the house cat scurrying around causing the old wooden steps to creak.  Rylant "brings the reader back inside" twice during the story to make the reader feel like he or she is lying awake in bed next to an open window, experiencing the sounds of the night from multiple perspectives.  When inside the house, noises can be heard through the ears of this person lying awake in bed. Once outside, the reader is looking through the lens of nature. The frogs sitting on their lilly pads while croaking, the pig rolling on its side in the hay inside the barn, the raccoon mother carefully grooming her young can not be seen or heard by the "nature perspective." Along with the darkness of night, comes apprehension and mystery. Most people do not enjoy the outdoors during this time because it is dark and the familiar has become unfamiliar due to the fact we cannot see. Rylant abolishes this uncertainty and fear. She celebrates the animals and happenings that only occur during this time. 

The end of the story brings the beginning of morning and the disappearance of nighttime nature and its noises.  In fact, the perspective of nature and the humans reverse roles. The last sentence: "Then they (nature in the night) will spend a day in the country listening to you" explains this reversal of roles.  Rylant uses this ending to broaden the reader's thoughts even more. Nature and "the night" feels the same way about us as we do about them (uncertainty and wonder).  

The illustrator, Mary Szilagyl chose a dark palate to match the "night" theme of the story. The majority of the pages contain dark shades and tones. However, the last three pages transition into day by becoming lighter and brighter. The end page, which contains information about the book, also contains a small illustration depicting life on the farm during the day. The cat is the lower center point and is facing the humans and "the day." The placement and position of the cat signifies Rylant's use of nature's perspective vs. the human perspective. The cat represents nature "looking in" on the activity of daylight.