Night and Day in 3 New Picture Books

Several years ago my daughters came back from hiking and announced that they’d found the entrance to an undiscovered cave, perhaps even a whole system of caverns. I was skeptical. After all, they were hiking a maintained trail in a national forest, just 10 minutes from our house. There were even picnic shelters close by.

Still, I went with them for a look. They showed me where they’d gone off the trail, sliding down a steep bank of leaves. What they’d discovered looked like the entrance to an animal burrow. I shined a light through the small entrance, and it did indeed seem to lead to a much larger space. I wriggled in. The space was easy enough to stand up in, but when I scanned it with my light I gasped. I wasn’t in a cave. I was in an abandoned mine.

We returned a couple of days later with some official and experienced cavers to explore further. The mine wasn’t huge, just two branching, square-cut passages meandering into the hillside, but I’ll never forget the feeling of walking through them into the muffled dark with just a little headlamp. That small light in the dark became a tether, a guide and a lifeline all at once.

Light flickering in the darkness — whether the literal darkness of caves or the metaphorical darkness that sometimes shadows our souls — is a fundamental theme for storytellers. So it’s thrilling to see three new picture books that capture that sense of chiaroscuro in both words and images.

IN THE DARK (Knopf, 40 pp., $18.99, ages 3 to 7), written by Kate Hoefler and illustrated by Corinna Luyken, does it gorgeously. Here is a story of woods and witches, brooms and bird kites, black cats and new friends told with a spare, lyrical prose that invites engagement.