The Song of the Nightingale by Tanya Landman illustrated by Laura Carlin

Blurb: "The painter calls all the animals together and opens up her paintbox. She paints crocodiles green and elephants grey; lions yellow and whales blue. At last, when the sun does down and the paints are used up, she is finished. But then a little bird flies out of the forest's shadows. What colour will it be?"

Image Source: ebird

The language in this book is lyrical and rich. Teachers often ask for books that use different language conventions such as metaphor and alliteration. The Song of the Nightingale contains some wonderful examples.

"By night the moon lay on a quilt of velvet black, draped over snowcapped poles."

"As the morning went on she slicked stripes on zebras and painted pentagons on giraffes. She popped penguins into sharp suits, and furnished flamingos with feathers of delicate pink."

To the painter the animals look so dull when compared with the golden sun, the bright blue sky, the deep green ocean and the flaming red deserts. So all of the animals are summoned. They form a line and the painter "opened her paintbox."

The Song of the Nightingale is an example of a pourquoi story. What does that mean I can hear you say? Pourquoi means why in French. 

A pourquoi story, also known as an origin story, pourquoi tale, is a fictional narrative that explains why something is the way it is, for example why a snake has no legs, or why a tiger has stripes. Many legends and folk tales are pourquoi stories. Here is a list you could explore.

In this book Tanya Landman and Laura Carlin look at the way or the why the nightingale can sing so beautifully. You can hear the song here. The voice of the nightingale is liquid gold and gold is a colour. Before we arrive at that moment in the story, though, we need to explore how and why all the animals got their colours. I especially love the page that looks at the colour bottom of the mandrill.

Image source: Animals.net

Read an interview with Laura and Tanya on the Walker Books Picture Book Party blog.

Here is an idea I have not seen before. The front and back covers of this book match the back and front end papers. The back end paper is the front cover and the front end paper is the back cover. 

This is a rich text and a book filled with visual delights. I think it should be an essential purchase for all school library collections.

Here are some other books illustrated by Laura Carlin and books written by Tanya Landman. I was excited to discover I had talked about Mary's Penny by Tanya Landman previously on this blog. Tanya won the Carnegie Medal in 2015 for her Young Adult book Buffalo Soldier.

Here is the original cover for Flotsam and Jetsam: