Sleepsong

by George Ella Lyon, Peter Catalanotto (Illustrator)

Overview

It's time.

Bears, birds, cats, whales, oceans the earth itself must call it a day.

Just the time to pick out this book, climb on a lap, and listen.

Just the time to watch the light rise and fall at the corners of your eyes - to doze, to sigh, to say to this day, this one among many, shhhhhh shhhh good-bye.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780689869730
Publisher:	Atheneum/Richard Jackson Books
Publication date:	12/23/2008
Pages:	40
Product dimensions:	9.20(w) x 10.20(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range:	1 - 4 Years

About the Author

George Ella Lyon is the author of Trucks Roll!, Planes Fly!, and Boats Float!, cowritten with her son Benn. Among George Ella’s other books are the ALA Notable All the Water in the World, What Forest Knows, and Time to Fly. A former Kentucky Poet Laureate, she lives with her family in Lexington, Kentucky. Visit her online at GeorgeEllaLyon.com.

Peter Catalanotto has written seventeen books for children, including Monkey & Robot, More of Monkey & Robot, The Newbies, Question Boy Meets Little Miss Know-It-All, Ivan the Terrier, Matthew A.B.C., and Emily’s Art, of which School Library Journal said in a starred review, “whether viewed from afar or up close, this creative and heartfelt book is a masterpiece.” In 2008, First Lady Laura Bush commissioned Peter to illustrate the White House holiday brochure. He currently teaches the first children’s book writing course offered by both Columbia University and Pratt Institute. Peter has illustrated more than thirty books for other writers including George Ella Lyon, Cynthia Rylant, Mary Pope Osborne, Joanne Ryder, Robert Burleigh, and Megan McDonald.

Editorial Reviews

Lyon and Catalanotto (previously paired for Mother to Tigers) offer a going-to-bed book with rhythmic, Raffi-like lyrics: "Everything nests-Shh shh-Everything rests-Shh shh-Cow in the barn-Fox in the den-I'm right here-Tucking you in." Envisioning a classically telegenic family with a blue-eyed, blonde daughter, Catalanotto paints luminous full-bleed watercolor spreads of the usual before-bed routine: bath, story, tuck in. He imagines sleep as an indigo layer of wash that floats up from the bottom of the pages, where the animals in the song are already sleeping, curled up in bluish, moonlit hues. These colors gradually engulf the girl, receding when the routine is derailed (it shrinks when she's bouncing), then creeping back up as she quiets down. In the final spread, when the girl falls asleep, her image joins all the other slumbering baby animals nestling together in one big den. A melody for the text appears on the last page. Lovely. Ages 1-4. (Dec.)

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Publishers Weekly

PreS

Lyon and Catalanotto have teamed up again to depict another everyday occurrence in the life of a small child. A lyrical text tells of a mother and father preparing their child for bed: "Everything nests-"Shh shh/Everything rests shh/Time to turn in/-To put play away/Turn out the light-/Call it a day." All of the spreads show full-color paintings of the parents and their child on the upper portion and scenes of animals asleep in muted shades of blue and violet on the lower part. At the start of the book, when the father is playing with his daughter and the mother is readying the girl's bath, it is somewhat disconcerting to see baby animals huddled together with their eyes shut on the bottoms of the pages. It starts to make sense when specific animals are mentioned in the rhyme and their pictures are shown below: "Bee in the hive/Whale in the deep/ocean in motion/Cradling sleep." But it is confusing when the text reads "Hen on the roost," and the illustration shows a tiger, lion, gorilla, rabbit, pig, fox, dog, and hippo. The last spread features an assortment of sleeping baby animals superimposed over the dreaming child, and the effect is too busy. Although some children may like identifying the various sleeping critters, the dark pictures may seem spooky to others. Sheet music is provided for anyone who wants to sing the story, and readers can go to the author's Web site to hear it.-Martha Simpson, Stratford Library Association, CT

School Library Journal

Lyon's sonorous words meld with Catalanotto's dreamy gouache-and-watercolor paintings in this tender lullaby. A mother and father's faces glow with love as they prepare their little girl for her bedtime. Peek-a-boo, creative play, puzzle work, hide-and-seek and storytime take their places as family early-literacy activities alongside a boisterous bounce on the bed and a soothing bath. Together, mother and father enjoy their daughter thoroughly each step of the way, while the world and its creatures find a parallel peaceful goodnight. Each double-page spread depicts the humans' activities in glowing, warm hues while blue-gray pigments color a soft-edged stripe at the bottom that shows the animals named in the text. This stripe begins the book just at the lower edge of the page and expands upward with each page turn until finally, in the last spread, it washes over the little girl, including her in its cozy nighttime swirl. Words and images together create a gentle rock-a-bye rhythm, topping off a collaborative effort that should grace all children's collections. (lyrics and music) (Picture book. 0-3)

Kirkus Reviews