There are animals on every page, each one by a different artist, and all the artists are credited on the back cover of the book.
There are animals on every page, each one by a different artist, and all the artists are credited on the back cover of the book. COURTESY NATIVE EXPLORE

The baby board book Goodnight World, Animals of the Native Northwest came out in 2014 from Native Explore, but I noticed it yesterday at Elliott Bay Books and snatched the last two copies on the shelf. The woman at the counter told me they've got many more. They're $10.

The book is brilliant. Last night I read it twice out loud, on demand by both my baby and my teenage son.

After they went to bed, I spent a half hour in the book myself, paging through to look closely at the different designs applied to similar animals by artists of various tribes. Overall, the jewel-like design of each page is gorgeous. But the details are what I love. I will have layers of looking left to do for years in these curves and shapes and lines. It's a little like a mandala with asymmetries that emerge slowly.

All artists are credited on the back of the book. At the bookstore, my first question was—yes, but are Coast Salish artists included in addition to the northerners? Yes! Simone Diamond, Francis Horne Sr., and Doug LaFortune.

Goodnight World is certainly not just for kids.

Most of the great tension in the book comes from the subtle differences between the different tribal designs applied to the same or similar animals. But on this page, I love the way the moon distorts in its reflection. (Turtles by Simone Diamond, Coast Salish; moon by Corey Bulpitt, Haida.)
Most of the great tension in the book comes from the subtle differences between the different tribal designs applied to the same or similar animals. But on this page, I love the way the moon distorts in its reflection. (Turtles by Simone Diamond, Coast Salish; moon by Corey Bulpitt, Haida.) COURTESY NATIVE EXPLORE