静かな夜の街。昼間たくさん遊んですっかり眠くなったウサギの男の子が、お母さんに抱っこされて家に帰っていきます。明かりの灯った家々の窓からは、夜を思い思いに過ごす人々の様子が垣間見えます。電話で話をしている人、遅い時間に料理を作る人、一人きりで過ごす人もいれば、賑やかなパーティーに参加している人々。まもなく男の子は家に着き、ベッドの中で、さっき見た人たちのことに思いを巡らせます。みんな今頃どうしているかな、そろそろ寝る支度をしている頃かな……やがて男の子の想像と現実とが夢うつつの中に混ざり合い、満ち足りた気 A mother rabbit and her young bunny are on their way home in the dark night. ?My mother carries me through the quiet streets,? the bunny explains. ?Most of our neighbors are already home.? The bunny can see their lights in the windows, and hear and smell what they might be doing: talking on the phone, pulling a pie out of the oven, having a party, saying goodbye. When they reach home, the father rabbit tucks the bunny into bed. But the bunny continues to wonder about the neighbors' activities. ?Are the party guests saying goodnight? Is the person on the phone getting ready for bed?? And what of the footsteps that can be heard in the street as the bunny falls asleep? ?Will she take the last train home? This beautiful picture book captures the magical wonder a child feels at being outside in the night. Award-winning author and illustrator Akiko Miyakoshi's softly focused black-and-white illustrations with just a touch of neutral color have a dreamlike quality, just right for nodding off to sleep with. The book is intriguing in that it contains twice-told stories, once as they are observed and second as the bunny imagines them. This offers a perfect prompt for young children to create extensions of other stories they have read or heard. A deeper reading could encourage critical thinking by comparing the different pastimes of the neighbors or, ultimately, what it means to be home.