By Christy Mandin
A wonderfully offbeat girl sets out to coax the dark, and the magical creatures that live in it, back to a town that's afraid of nighttime.
The town of Garden Glen is scared of the dark, so every night when the sun goes down, everyone blazes their lights until the houses glow like noon. Every house but Millie Fleur La Fae's. Millie Fleur knows there are enchanting things you can only see when it's truly dark, but since she moved to town, her nighttime friends have gone missing. So she bakes moon pies, plants a sweet-smelling moon garden, and sets out to do the hardest part of all: talk the whole town into being brave enough to turn off the lights.
If you've got a child who's a little wary of the dark, this is a reassuring one to read as the lights go down. Instead of arguing that there's nothing to fear, it flips the whole thing, the dark is where the wonder lives, and Millie Fleur can't wait for it. Christy Mandin's sepia-toned art has a gentle, spooky-sweet charm that never tips into scary, and Millie Fleur is a delight, the odd one out who's completely herself. It works as a standalone even if you haven't met her before.