Night Job by Karen Hesse shows us that we depend on people who work all night. A young boy hops on his dad's motorcycle on Friday nights and together they zoom along a highway to a school building. "Dad hauls out a ring of keys as big as the rising moon." Then, dad cleans the gym floor, the cafeteria, the stage, and classrooms. After sitting in the courtyard for a "lunch" of egg salad sandwiches, Dad cleans the library and the boy falls asleep on a sofa. As the sun rises, they roar home to what hints to be an apartment. G. Brian Karas' illustrations get the job done. They show a boy's joy spending time with his dad at work. The pictures feel like a lonesome night illuminated by bulbs.
I searched a library network for other picture books by Karen Hesse after reading Come On, Rain!. What turned up was this one and Just Juice (1998), which isn't a picture book. While I like both these stories, they didn't have the magic of Come On, Rain! , at least for me. Maybe it was the collaboration with Jon J. Muth that birthed an especially lovely picture book. Of course, Hesse wrote many fine stories. My comments are actually in praise of Come On, Rain!, I guess.
