The Night Is Deep and Wide

★ “A lovely visual lullaby to soothe youngest readers to sleep.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review

Rich imagery, gentle rhythm and soothing repetition will lull your little one to sleep as the tulips close for the night, one by one. In this bedtime story written as an Italian villanelle, poet Gillian Sze makes use of the poetic forms of cyclic pattern and rhyme scheme to create a melodious lullaby.

A young child comes in from picking flowers as the creatures around their home all settle down for the evening. Songbirds curl against their mothers’ sides, the house slumps and sighs low, a hush settles as times slows. And little readers are invited to rest their heads and be soothed to sleep as moonlight falls on eyes that close.

Gillian Sze is the author of multiple poetry collections, including Peeling Rambutan, Redrafting Winer and Panicle. Her work has been nominated for the QWF’s A.M. Klein Prize for Poetry, and has received awards such as the University of Winnipeg Writers’ Circle Prize and the 3Macs carte blanche Prize. She studied creative writing and English literature at Concordia University and received a PhD in études anglaises from the Université de Montréal. Originally from Winnipeg, she now resides in Montreal, where she teaches creative writing.



Sue Todd is an award-winning illustrator living in Toronto. She is a graduate of the Ontario College of Art (now OCAD University). Sue began her career as a freelance designer in retail advertising. For a more creative outlet, she took up linoleum carving, an ancient printmaking technique similar to woodcut, and developed a unique style of art that led to a career in illustration. Sue has created images for a wide range of clients, from advertising and corporate to editorial and publishing. She is currently working on writing and illustrating her own stories.