Night at the Fair

Step right up! Crews "(Freight Train)" gives young readers an open-ended ticket to the glittery goings-on after dark at the county fair in his energetic new picture book. In Crews’s fair, clusters of food stands and game booths festoon the mid-way, and Crews perfectly captures the glow of kaleidoscopic candy-colored lights against a black night sky. ’Bold signs announce Funnel Cakes, Corn Dogs and Win Big Prizes to passersby. In several ex-pansive spreads, kids-their faces flushed with excitement-ride the carousel. giant Ferris wheel and the whirler. which twirl and twinkle like gigantic fireflies in the dark. Crews’s text is minimal but captures the thrill of a child ("And now, / on to the/ RIDES!"). The busy scenes tilled with a rainbow of people eating. laughing and carrying stuffed animal prizes will have readers longing for the warm nights of summer and the next county’ fair. -" Publisher’s Weekly, " 2/17/98