“Hand over hand, the ninja climbed and clambered … The house was silent. Everyone was asleep.” A ninja has embarked on a dangerous nighttime mission and the sense of anticipation builds across the pages of this picture book as he arrives at his destination and sets about his mysterious task. Then his world of darkness is suddenly transformed as lights flash on. “'What are you doing?’ thundered his mother.” And a little boy clad in ninja garb is caught, red-handed, eating ice cream after bedtime. An imaginative idea for a picture book is bolstered by some wonderful moments in Barbara DaCosta’s narrative and by the tactile qualities of Ed Young’s beautifully composed illustrations. (Ages 3–6)