The Dark Is For
By (Author) Jane Kohuth
Illustrated by Cindy Derby
Simon & Schuster
Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
11th November 2025
United States
Children
Fiction
Childrens / Teenage social topics: Environment, sustainability and green issues
Picture storybooks: bedtime stories, sleep and dreams
Childrens / Teenage fiction: Stories in verse
Hardback
40
Width 254mm, Height 267mm, Spine 3mm
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 Kohuths musical text and Cindy Derbys 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 Franks 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 masters degree in theological studies. She has worked as a childrens room library assistant, a writing teacher, and a childrens 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 Derbyis 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 profoundaliveand wonderfully out of control. Cindys 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 Frances Philosophia Jeunesse Prize and the Alpaca Award (bronze medal) in Japans Kembuchi Picture Book Awards. She lives in San Francisco with her family.