On a cold, wet night Luke and his family say goodbye to friends and begin their long journey home in the car. Sandwiched between his dozing older brother and sister in the back seat, Luke struggles to stay awake, mesmerized by lights glowing on wet streets and sparkling raindrops on car windows. The rain has released a world of light and colour and mystery that Luke doesn’t see by day, and he doesn’t want to miss any of it. Yet as the car winds its way through the city, sleep tugs at him, claiming him as the family arrives home.

This gentle story captures the warmth and security of family from a child’s perspective. It also offers a glimpse of the simple ways in which the ordinary can become extraordinary. Hundal’s text is poetic and rich in imagery: the coloured lights of a row of stores “blur, like melted ice cream swished over the street,” and a police car spreads “a quick flicker of redbluewhite lights” over Luke’s family, transforming them into strangers for a moment. Karen Reczuch’s illustrations, while realistic, vividly convey the play of light blurred by rain and suggest the magical world that Luke sees. The star-patterned blanket on Luke’s bed at the end nicely recalls the many other “stars” in the book.

However, the references to Luke’s book Melted Star Journey, which he holds in the car and takes to bed with him, are puzzling. This self-referential device suggests that Luke’s impressions are triggered by the book rather than by his own imagination.

Despite this quibble, Melted Star Journey is a lovely book that highlights the ordinary magic of the real world.