The Dark Is For

Magic comes to life when night arrives in this lyrical picture book with gorgeous illustrations by Caldecott Honoree Cindy Derby about embracing the beauty of darkness.

The dark is for flying.
The dark is for shining.
The dark is for dreaming…

Though darkness can be scary, beauty can be found in the stillness of the shadows. And in this stunning tale filled with poetic words and gorgeous art, we celebrate the darkness. From the creatures dancing in the blackness of the deep sea to those that wake when night falls in the forest, we feel the magic come to life.

Jane Kohuth’s musical text and Cindy Derby’s stunning illustrations take us on an unforgettable journey to all the spectacular wonders that can only be found in the darkest of places.

Jane Kohuth is the author of several picture books and early readers, including Duck Sock Hop, A Chicago Public Library and Bank Street Best Book of the Year; Anne Frank’s Chestnut Tree, a Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People; and the recent Something on the Hill, which received a starred review from School Library Journal. Jane grew up in Brooklyn, New York, filling notebooks with poetry, journal entries, and unfinished novels. She graduated from Brandeis University with a degree in English and creative writing and from Harvard Divinity School with a master’s degree in theological studies. She has worked as a children’s room library assistant, a writing teacher, and a children’s bookseller and organizer of author events and has been a Jewish educator for many years. Jane lives with her husband, son, and two cats in a crooked old house by woods and wetland in Holliston, Massachusetts, where she loves listening to the night sounds, from the spring peepers to the coyotes howling.

Cindy Derby is an author and illustrator of many critically acclaimed books for children, including Outside In by Deborah Underwood, which received a 2021 Caldecott Honor as well as five starred reviews. NPR has called her illustrations “mesmerizing,” and The New York Times regards her work as “profound…alive…and wonderfully out of control.” Cindy’s books have been translated all over the world and have also been awarded a Golden Kite Honor for Picture Book Illustration, a Crystal Kite Award, and international awards such as France’s Philosophia Jeunesse Prize and the Alpaca Award (bronze medal) in Japan’s Kembuchi Picture Book Awards. She lives in San Francisco with her family.