Tippy and the Night Parade

December 2, 2013
Carré (Heads or Tails) brings her talents to a younger audience with the story of a girl’s somnambulism and the chaos it creates. Except for a few scenes bathed in the pale oranges of sunset and sunrise, Carré uses a palette of steely gray-blues as bedheaded Tippy strides out the front door—eyes closed, and the trace of a smile on her lips. Tippy narrates in suppositional speech bubbles (she’s a sleep-talker, too). “Maybe I walked out into the garden,” she muses, doing just that as a protective crab clings to her nightgown, “because I wanted to hop across the lily pads.” As Tippy wanders through Carré’s panels, falling down a “big hole” and emerging in a cactus patch, she acquires a train of animals that leave her bedroom in disarray. “What is this mess?” her mother shouts the next morning. “I don’t know, Mama,” Tippy replies as a goat chews on her hair. “All I remember... is falling asleep!” Carré’s curvy cartoons brim with quirky humor, and although Tippy is unconscious throughout her adventure, it’s evident that she’s the sort of girl whose waking life is plenty interesting, too. Ages 4–8.