Any parent worth his or her salt knows a few tried and true bedtime picture books. These are the books that help your child wind down, and are often full of soft, soothing pictures, lyrical text and a sleeping theme.
As a librarian, I run across dozens of these bedtime style stories, and I have to say that I am not an easily pleased customer when it comes to this type of book.
I’ll start with a confession. I find Goodnight Moon dull and monotonous without much to spark my interest as either reader or listener. When my mother was reading it to my younger sibs, I used to figure the book was literally meant to bore them to sleep. I know that won’t hold true for everyone, but for me the best thing that’s come out of Goodnight Moon is all the parodies of it. When it comes to bedtime books, I want something soothing without being syrupy toothache sweet. A lot of books seem to go with the attitude that if you throw in lots of fuzzy baby animals and cute images with rhyming words it’s an automatic winner. Sorry, that won’t work for me.
Then there’s the text. I happen to feel that poetry is meant to be read aloud, and I love reading good lyrical stuff where the words just flow. I get really cranky with clumsy or forced rhyming in a picture book, as though the author didn’t care enough to spend the effort for quality. In my opinion, if you’re going to write rhyming text, make it good, or don’t rhyme at all.
So there’s my standing in all of this. Now onto the books themselves. Last week, two new bedtime books arrived at my library. The first, Sleepy ABC by Margaret Wise Brown, illustrated by Karen Katz. This book takes an older copyrighted text of the author and renews it with the bright art work of Karen Katz. The book essentially runs through the alphabet from A to Z rhyming each couplet of letters and referencing in some way bedtime. I think that publishers may be hoping to ride a bit too much on the coattails of Goodnight Moon with this book. The conceit of running through the alphabet as a concept or to tell a story can work—but it doesn’t work here.
The wording is clumsy, awkward and sometimes downright nonsensical. (“C is for Caw when the last crow crows” “E is for eyes that all must close—the child’s the rabbits and the rose”). It’s forced, and trite and it just doesn’t read well aloud. The only thing that saves this book is Karen Katz’s bright and blocky illustrations, so well known from her numerous lift-the–flap books. These images are appealing to youngsters and give the book a pleasing and dynamic presentation—if only the text could match it. So I admit I was disappointed by this book and moved on to the next one in the pile.
Another bedtime book—and by this time I was a little less enthusiastic about picking it up. But I cracked the cover on Debi Gliori’s Stormy Weather, and I’m glad I did. While not as well known, Debi Gliori has written and illustrated numerous children’s books and it’s obvious she knows her stuff. Stormy Weather is a soothing lullaby good for dark and stormy nights or simply rainy days. At the opening, a mother fox comes in to tuck her child into bed, a book tucked under one arm and a wide window open on a starry night. The text spills in naturally to the scene: “Pull up the quilt, turn out the light/ dear child, it’s time to say good night./ In darkness black and soft and deep/ I’ll watch beside you while you sleep.” From here the book launches into scenes that literally spill from the pages of the book, where small animals are juxtaposed against what seem to be fearful ocean waves, or winds, or snowstorms,--but the parent animal is always close at hand to reassure and keep them close. The text is lustrous and rich with wonderfully evocative phrasing and perfectly synched rhymes that flow without effort when reading aloud. There’s never too much text per page—even when faced with an impatient page turner like my son! In the end, everything wraps up back with the foxes cuddled up asleep, and the book upon the bed, a star-rich sky overhead.
For a very young child, the images might be a little busy, but they are lovely. And the text is perfect for reading even without the pictures—a perfect parental message to a sleepy child of reassurance and comfort. My 15 month old would like me to add that he likes picking out the stars that are on most of the pages and he’s very keen on the polar bears as well.
In conclusion, not all bedtime books are the same, and in the case of these two, I’d highly recommend Stormy Weather over Sleepy ABC’s to any parent with a need for a sleepy-time text.
As a librarian, I run across dozens of these bedtime style stories, and I have to say that I am not an easily pleased customer when it comes to this type of book.
I’ll start with a confession. I find Goodnight Moon dull and monotonous without much to spark my interest as either reader or listener. When my mother was reading it to my younger sibs, I used to figure the book was literally meant to bore them to sleep. I know that won’t hold true for everyone, but for me the best thing that’s come out of Goodnight Moon is all the parodies of it. When it comes to bedtime books, I want something soothing without being syrupy toothache sweet. A lot of books seem to go with the attitude that if you throw in lots of fuzzy baby animals and cute images with rhyming words it’s an automatic winner. Sorry, that won’t work for me.
Then there’s the text. I happen to feel that poetry is meant to be read aloud, and I love reading good lyrical stuff where the words just flow. I get really cranky with clumsy or forced rhyming in a picture book, as though the author didn’t care enough to spend the effort for quality. In my opinion, if you’re going to write rhyming text, make it good, or don’t rhyme at all.
So there’s my standing in all of this. Now onto the books themselves. Last week, two new bedtime books arrived at my library. The first, Sleepy ABC by Margaret Wise Brown, illustrated by Karen Katz. This book takes an older copyrighted text of the author and renews it with the bright art work of Karen Katz. The book essentially runs through the alphabet from A to Z rhyming each couplet of letters and referencing in some way bedtime. I think that publishers may be hoping to ride a bit too much on the coattails of Goodnight Moon with this book. The conceit of running through the alphabet as a concept or to tell a story can work—but it doesn’t work here.
The wording is clumsy, awkward and sometimes downright nonsensical. (“C is for Caw when the last crow crows” “E is for eyes that all must close—the child’s the rabbits and the rose”). It’s forced, and trite and it just doesn’t read well aloud. The only thing that saves this book is Karen Katz’s bright and blocky illustrations, so well known from her numerous lift-the–flap books. These images are appealing to youngsters and give the book a pleasing and dynamic presentation—if only the text could match it. So I admit I was disappointed by this book and moved on to the next one in the pile.
Another bedtime book—and by this time I was a little less enthusiastic about picking it up. But I cracked the cover on Debi Gliori’s Stormy Weather, and I’m glad I did. While not as well known, Debi Gliori has written and illustrated numerous children’s books and it’s obvious she knows her stuff. Stormy Weather is a soothing lullaby good for dark and stormy nights or simply rainy days. At the opening, a mother fox comes in to tuck her child into bed, a book tucked under one arm and a wide window open on a starry night. The text spills in naturally to the scene: “Pull up the quilt, turn out the light/ dear child, it’s time to say good night./ In darkness black and soft and deep/ I’ll watch beside you while you sleep.” From here the book launches into scenes that literally spill from the pages of the book, where small animals are juxtaposed against what seem to be fearful ocean waves, or winds, or snowstorms,--but the parent animal is always close at hand to reassure and keep them close. The text is lustrous and rich with wonderfully evocative phrasing and perfectly synched rhymes that flow without effort when reading aloud. There’s never too much text per page—even when faced with an impatient page turner like my son! In the end, everything wraps up back with the foxes cuddled up asleep, and the book upon the bed, a star-rich sky overhead.
For a very young child, the images might be a little busy, but they are lovely. And the text is perfect for reading even without the pictures—a perfect parental message to a sleepy child of reassurance and comfort. My 15 month old would like me to add that he likes picking out the stars that are on most of the pages and he’s very keen on the polar bears as well.
In conclusion, not all bedtime books are the same, and in the case of these two, I’d highly recommend Stormy Weather over Sleepy ABC’s to any parent with a need for a sleepy-time text.
Happy Reading! ^_^ Shanshad
Stormy Weather
Accelerated Reading level : generic "2"
- Hardcover: 32 pages
- Publisher: Walker Books for Young Readers (October 27, 2009)
- ISBN-10: 080279419X
Sleepy ABC's
Accelerated Reading level : generic "1"
- Hardcover: 40 pages
- Publisher: HarperCollins; 1 edition (December 29, 2009)
- ISBN-10: 0061288632
- See-a-Sample
(doesn't work in Safari)
1 comment :
Your review has made my Sunday! Thank you for being so generous - I'm now off to walk on air for the rest of the week.
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