ReadItDaddy's Third Book of the Week - Week Ending 6th September 2019: "Lights on Cotton Rock" by David Litchfield (Frances Lincoln Children's Books)

The usual September bookapocalypse has descended on us with mighty force, meaning that this week we just had to squeeze in one more extra-special "Book of the Week" winner. A book that quite literally took our breath away.

"Lights on Cotton Rock" by David Litchfield once again proves that just about everything David turns his hand to ends up being kidlit gold.

In fact, this book might well have usurped "The Bear and the Piano" as our fave DL book yet.

The story begins with a young girl, who (rather like me as a kid) spends a lot of time gazing up at the night sky. Is there anybody out there in the inky void of space? Are we truly alone in the universe?

Heather believes there are others out there, and maintains a nightly vigil. One night she uses her torch to blast signals out into the night sky, and it seems someone was watching - as a vast colourful spacecraft descends into the quiet forest glade - something Heather has wished for since she was a little girl.

But despite this world-shattering event, it's all over far too soon - and the spacecraft leaves once again. Will the spaceship ever come back? And if it does, will Heather be ready to leave everything she has on earth behind?

Where to start with this one. I mean, you could start with the amazing expressions on Heather's face as her deepest wish comes true - only to be cruelly taken away from her, leaving her wondering if she'd dreamed the whole thing.

You could continue as Heather lives out her earth-bound life...continuing on despite the amazing thing that happened to her. Growing old, having a family of her own, but still gazing up at the stars and hoping.

You could also talk about "that bit" - which we really don't want to ruin for you - where Heather makes a decision that underlines and underpins the whole point of the story in such a beautifully emotive and heartfelt way.

Or you could just go on, and on, and on, and on about how utterly stunning and beautiful this book is. I don't think there are any other illustrators working in children's picture books who have such a delicious and brilliant artistic way of working with light and dark the way David does, and his character expressions are just *chef's kiss*. It's like a gorgeous homage to movies I loved as a kid, spliced perfectly with a bang-up-to-date core message about the things that end up meaning more to us than the things we sometimes break ourselves in half wishing for.

Just so, so good!

Sum this book up in a sentence: Honestly, picture books like this don't come along very often so grab this one with both hands, it's truly out of this world.

"Lights on Cotton Rock" by David Litchfield is out now, published by Frances Lincoln Children's Books (kindly supplied for review).