Sleep Rhymes around the World edited by Jane Yolen

"Mothers and fathers all over the world sing and tell and tell lullaby rhymes to their sleepy children, whether those children doze in tents or huts or apartment houses that reach the sky."

First off I do need to say this book (1994) is long out print but I wanted to share it because I love the idea of collecting lullabies, books like this can be an interesting way to explore illustrators from around the world, and when I saw Jane Yolen's name on the cover I knew this book would be a special one.

Blurb: Sleep rhythms around the world presents a wonderful collection of lullabies from seventeen different nations. Each lullaby is illustrated by an artist native to the country represented. 

Here are some of the countries: Afghanistan; Nigeria; Finland; Uganda; Thailand; Italy; USA; Slovenia; Venezuela and Ukraine.

Illustrators with pages that appeal to me Italy - Maria Battaglia; Ukraine - Maria Peschena; Finland - Kristina Louhi; Iran - Feroozeh Golmohammadi; and Turkey - Mustafa Delogu. 

Read some review comments here. 

Jane Yolen also edited a companion volume entitled Street Rhymes around the world (1992).

Baby by Patricia MacLachlan

A searching, beautifully written story. Kirkus

Larkin lives with her artist mother, father and grandmother Byrd on an island (perhaps it is Nantucket or Martha's Vineyard). The island is overrun with visitors each summer so the residents really enjoy the quieter times when all the mainlanders have left.

We ate dinner as the sun set; candles on the table, the dinner a yearly celebration that tomorrow the island visitors would leave. The seasons on our island rose and fell in a rhythm like the rise and fall of the tides. Autumn was ours with quick colors, leaves flying until they were gone and we could see the shape of the island. The land rose and fell, too, from the north point where the lighthouse stood, curving down into valleys like hands holding pond water. Soon winter would come, the winds shaking the windows of the house, the sea black. Herring gulls would sit out of the wind on our porch, watching for spring that would come so fast and cold, we would hardly know it was there. Then summer, visitors would come off the ferry again, flooding us, the air heavy with their voices. And again, at summer’s end they would be gone like the tide, leaving behind small signs of themselves: a child’s pail with a broken handle, a tiny white sock by the water’s edge. Bits and pieces of them left like good-byes.

But have the summer visitors all left? At the end of chapter one Patricia MacLachlan hints that change is coming and it is coming tomorrow. The family and Larkin's special friend Lalo return from their tradition of farewelling the final ferry to find a baby on their doorstep.

“I cannot take care of her now, but I know she will be safe with you,” Papa read. “I have watched you. You will be a good family. I will lose her forever if you don’t do this, so please keep her. I will send money for her when I can. I will come back for her one day. I love her.”

Sophie's mother loves her baby but she has had to leave her behind. Papa warns Larkin the baby's mother will return.

“I like Sophie,” I said. “I don’t love her.” “Don’t,” said Papa. “Don’t love her.” He sighed. “I like her too,” he said after a moment. “Mama will love her soon,” I whispered. “If not already,” murmured Papa. “I’m scared,” I said after a while. “For Mama.” There was a silence.

There is a hint of sadness to come on the opening page of this book - it is a quote from a poem:

I am not resigned to the shutting away of loving hearts in the hard ground. So it is, and so it will be, for so it has been, time out of mind: Into the darkness they go, the wise and the lovely. Crowned With lilies and with laurel they go; but I am not resigned. —from “Dirge Without Music” Edna St. Vincent Millay

This family are carrying a deep sadness. Mama and Papa won't talk to Larkin about her baby brother who only lived for one day. He never had a name and Larkin never saw his little face.

A tiny stone sat there, surrounded by big headstones with angels and flowers and names engraved on them. There was no name on the tiny stone, just the word BABY and a date that showed that the one buried there had only lived for one day.

A great topic for a PhD could be the portrayal of librarians, school librarians and Teacher-Librarians in middle grade books. I adore Ms Minifred she works at Larkin's school. She is a minor but also important character. She loves words, poetry (spoiler alert there is a love story in this book too) and Rebel (who) had come to the island with his Harley-Davidson motorcycle when he was eighteen and had never left. That was fifteen years ago. We had seen pictures of him then, and he hadn’t changed. He was still thin, and his hair stood straight up. He had a mysterious tattoo on his arm that said “Wild Eunice.”

I often think about collecting the opening sentences of books - perhaps using them as a way to share books with readers or even as writing inspiration. Here is the opening sentence of Baby:

In the evenings my father danced.

Here is another beautiful sentence: Byrd lifted Sophie and whirled her around until Sophie laughed. A small island plane flew over our heads and away. And Byrd’s pearls broke, showering Sophie and falling over the meadow grasses like tears.

Publisher blurb: Larkin's family welcomes Sophie into their home, caring for her and teaching her games and new words. They come to love this baby as their own, all the while knowing that eventually Sophie's mother will return one day to take her from them.

The writing in this book is so far above nearly every book I have read over the last few months. I read a huge number of kids books and while many are okay and a few are good, none quite reach the heights of the exquisite writing in this book. It should not have taken me so long to read Baby which was published in 1995. My friend first mentioned it back in 2012 when she read my post about the most famous Patrician MacLachlan book Sarah, Plain and Tall. The label on this post will take you to lots of other Patrician MacLachlan titles. In this post from 2020 I talk about themes in her books such as music, poetry, questions, and family relationships. You might also notice many books include loss. 

Awards for Baby by Patricia MacLachlan:

• WINNER 1994 ALA Best Books for Young Adults
• WINNER 1996 South Carolina Children’s Book Award
• WINNER 1994 Texas Bluebonnet Award

There are only a handful of children's middle grade authors that I put into the category of superb - Patricia Maclachlan; Kate DiCamillo; Sara Pennypacker; Kevin Henkes; Patricia Reilly Giff; Katherine Paterson; Jason Reynolds and Katherine Applegate from the US. Katherine Rundell and Onjali Q Rauf from the UK. And Zana Fraillon, Judith Rossell, Deb Abela, Tristan Bancks and Shirley Marr from Australia.

Companion books:

The Naming of Tishkin Silk

The Summer we found the baby

Foxlight

Here is the full poem by Edna St Vincent Millay:

“I am not resigned to the shutting away of loving hearts in the hard ground. 

So it is and so it will be, for so it has been, time out of mind: 

Into the darkness they go, the wise and the lovely. Crowned 

With lilies and with laurel they go; but I am not resigned. 

Lovers and thinkers, into the earth with you. 

Be one with the dull, the indiscriminate dust. 

A fragment of what you felt, of what you knew, 

A formula, a phrase remains, - but the best is lost. 

The answers quick and keen, the honest look, the laughter, the love, - 

They are gone. They are gone to feed the roses. Elegant and curled 

Is the blossom. Fragrant is the blossom. I know. But I do not approve. 

More precious was the light in your eyes than all the roses in the world. 

Down, down, down into the darkness of the grave 

Gently they go, the beautiful, the tender, the kind; 

Quietly they go, the intelligent, the witty, the brave. I know. 

But I do not approve. And I am not resigned.”

The Lions' Run by Sara Pennypacker illustrated by Jon Klassen

Compassionate and complex. Kirkus Star review

Occupied France, 1944. Lucas Dubois lives in an abbey orphanage. There are rule and constraints but Lucas has some freedom because he works as a delivery boy for a local town greengrocer. Once his deliveries are completed he can enjoy a little free time and some fishing but on this day he sees two of the older orphanage boys stuffing some kittens into a sack. 

"When Marcel cinched the sack, Lucas squeezed his eyes shut. There was nothing he could do, either. Two against one; the two known to relish brawls. Lucas famous for running from them."

But not this time. Lucas follows the boys the bridge. He desperately tries to bargain with these bullies and hands over his precious fishing lure "but Claude didn't hand over the sack. He swung it out toward the canal and let go. Then both boys ran off laughing."

Perhaps all is not lost. Lucas grabs the bag and yes he saves all but one kitten but what will he do with the five that are left? There is an abandoned stable up in the hills above the town. To get there he has to ride past the Nazi maternity home - this is a place he visits regularly with his deliveries. On arrival at the stable Lucas makes an amazing, and life-changing, discovery. There is a horse in the stable and a girl. Alice is hiding her racehorse because:

"The Germans issued orders ... All healthy horses are to be seized for the war effort. They don't mean the racing horses still here - the Germans love their horse facing too much. But Bia doesn't race, so they would take her. They would probably use her to move artillery in Poland where the roads are gone until she was wounded or dropped dead of exhaustion. Then the soldiers would eat her."

The lives of these two kids in occupied France now collide. Lucas needs help to keep the kittens alive and safe; Alice needs Lucas to keep Bia, her horse, a secret; and then there is the further twist when Lucas steps in to help the local resistance movement helping Mme Garnier headhouse keeper at Lebensborn. 

"Lucas lay wide awake that night. Beneath his pillow was a slip of paper Mme Garnier had dropped. She had been so afraid of those Germans discovering this paper that it could mean only one thing: She was in the Resistance and it was a secret message."

As expected, this all puts Lucas in grave danger - this tension will keep you turning the pages of The Lions' Run desperately hoping Lucas, Alice, Bia and those kittens will all survive. Do NOT flip to the end of the book - the ending you will arrive at is unexpected and more.

This is the second book where I have read about the Lebensborn.

"to be accepted, the pregnant girls must pass all these tests. Not just blue eyes and blonde hair. They measure their heads, they measure the space between their eyes, everything. It's called 'Aryan,' what they're breeding for. Some with the men, the fathers ... Two blonde parents are most likely going to have blonde children."

Adding to all the complexities of this story - Lucas meets and talks with Clare, one of the young pregnant girls. As an orphan himself he is so dismayed when he hears that her baby will be taken away and she will never see him again. 

This immersive story is driven by Lucas’ emotional yearnings and the sometimes complicated relationships among the well-drawn characters, ... the history and the specific setting are accurate and carefully delineated, creating a strong sense of place. Kirkus Star review

... this a book the reader won’t be able to put down. Historical Novel Society

Pennypacker’s tale feels both relevant and necessary. She captures the idea that bravery doesn’t always look grand or heroic; sometimes it’s found in the smallest, most private choices. A Book a Week

Please read this interview of Sara Pennypacker by Betsy Bird. The Lions' run is available in hardcover for a really good price here in Australia (shop around I've seen this book between AUS$18 and AUS$25) so I highly recommend you add this book to your library collection. The cover by Jon Klassen is perfect - you need to stretch it out to see the front and back images together. Listen to an audio sample of Chapter 5 and you can read chapters one and two here.

There are so many books for readers aged 10+ about aspects of World War II but I highly recommend you consider adding this one to your school library. The story is a powerful one and yet also very personal. Lucas is an orphan and this drives his desire to firstly help the kittens and later the baby. Alice is wise beyond her years and a character to cherish. The important work of the resistance is woven into this story and this adds a very real layer of tension. (Click the label Resistance Fighters at the bottom of this post to find other books that explore the heroism of people who worked so hard to thwart the enemy). 

Companion books:

Waiting for the Storks

All the Beautiful Things

Faceless

Birdie

I am a huge fan of Sara Pennypacker.

Pax; Pax: The Journey Home

Summer of the Gypsy Moths

Leeva at Last

Sparrow Girl

Oscar's Half Birthday by Bob Graham

"Today is Oscar's birthday. Well, not really his birthday - he is six months old. The truth is no one can wait for his whole birthday."

I have been reading and re-reading all of my Bob Graham books for a secret project. I have talked about or at least mentioned Oscar's Half Birthday here on this blog many times but I didn't have a post exclusively about this wonderful story. 

You might like to begin by stretching the cover out to see front and back. Oscar is sitting with his cake  and half a candle on the cover while his sister Millie heads over to him with her trademark dinosaur glove and fairy wings. By the way we later discover it is a chocolate cake - yum. 

The title page also stretches over two spreads and as it often the way with city scenes by Bob Graham there are so many tiny details to explore such as the lady sunbaking on her roof; the shops such as Guitar city which has a huge guitar on the roof, the donut on the donut shop and the burger on the top of Burgerland; you will also see several washing lines on the top of high city buildings and flocks of pigeons (Bob Graham puts pigeons in so many of his scenes).

Now zoom in on the same page and you will see a small hill with a park on the top - this is where we are heading for the birthday - up to Bellevue Hill - but first we need to meet the family so turn the page. Dad is wrapping the tuna sandwiches for their picnic and mum is sitting with Oscar and his big sister Millie on their comfy couch. 

The walk across the city involves crossing a pedestrian bridge. You can also see one of these in Queenie the Bantam and Spirit of Hope. They set out their picnic and everyone admires young Oscar and also Millie's fairy wings but even better when the family start to sing Happy Birthday everyone around the park joins in. 

After the singing we have a full page illustration of Oscar and these beautiful lines:

"Oscar sits titled at an angle, his fingers curled into Millie's tuna sandwich. HIs shoulders are hunched, his head nods and the sun shines through his ears, lighting them up like little lanterns."

Back at home the kids have a bath - notice the candles in the soap dish. Millie gifts her dinosaur glove briefly to Oscar and we learn that the next birthday will be Millie herself with four candles on her cake.

This is a book to own, cherish and read on the occasion of every birthday in your family while your kids are young. 

Graham magnificently captures the essence of a six-month-old: “Oscar frowns in the dim light—six different expressions on his face in the time it takes a leaf to fall.” Millie is an adorable older sister, clearly infatuated with Oscar. Kirkus

Talking about another Bob Graham book (The Concrete Garden) Kirkus said his work is:

Deft, understated loveliness.

I am sure you are familiar with Bob Graham but if not here is a good summary of some of his titles from The School Library Journal. 

Katje the Windmill Cat by Gretchen Woelfle illustrated by Nicola Bayley

Katje lives with Nico, the miller. She has a happy life but then Nico marries Lena. His new wife likes things to be clean and orderly and so there is no place for a cat like Katje. Things get worse when baby Anneke is born and eventually Katje leaves the house and moves into the mill. But one night there is a fierce storm, the river rises and floods the house. Based on a true story it is Katje who is able to rescue baby Anneke. 

I was drawn to this book because I really love illustrations by Nicola Bayley and when I saw this book I thought of this one:

Katje the Windmill Cat has the most delightful page designs with small delft blue tiles at the left of each page, the tiny details of which echo the action in the main illustrations. Kirkus comment on the font choice and I do agree - it is quite a distraction which is a shame because this is a story young readers will enjoy. I know true stories of animal heroes can be a very popular topic.

Bookseller blurb for Katje the Windmill Cat: This heroic tale was inspired by a true story that took place over 500 years ago. It tells of Katje the windmill cat who lives happily with Nico, the miller, in a Dutch village by the sea. By day, Katje chases mice in the windmill; by night, she sleeps on a soft pillow on Nico's bed. Then Nico brings home his bride, Lena, and everything changes. Katje is shooed away by Lena as she sweeps the house or when she finds Katje playing with the new baby. Eventually poor Katje leaves her home and moves into the windmill. But when a storm breaks the dike that holds back the sea, Katje performs a feat of extraordinary courage that makes her forever welcome in the house.

Nicola Bayley illustrated many other books about cats - all now out of print. The Patchwork Cat; Spider Cat; Elephant Cat; Curious Cat; Crab Cat; Polar Bear Cat.

Biography from Walker Books: Nicola Bayley is a gifted illustrator best known for her loving, detailed illustrations of cats. Nicola studied Graphic Design at St Martin’s College and then Illustration at the Royal College of Art. She specialised in cats and has illustrated a wide rand of children’s books including “The Necessary Cat”, “Katje the Windmill Cat”, “The Curious Cat” and an extravagant new edition of Rudyard Kipling’s classic “The Jungle Book”. Her work is both admired and acclaimed. In 2001, Nicola was short listed for the Kate Greenaway Medal for “Katje the Windmill Cat” and “The Mousehole Cat” was the winner of the British Book Award for the Illustrated Children’s Book of the Year and the British Design Production Award (Children’s Books).

The Elephant and the Bad Baby by Elfrida Vipont illustrated by Raymond Briggs

I picked up a copy of this classic story from a library discard pile. I have read The Elephant and the Bad Baby (1969) to thousands of kindergarten children between 1985 and 2017. The story is terrific to read aloud because there is a chorus line which invites the children to join in "and the bad baby said yes and they went rumpeta, rumpeta, rumpeta, all down the road ... ". If you are making a list of books to share with your Kindergarten group or in a preschool you should add this title - and yes it is still available.

Publisher blurb: Join a playful elephant and mischievous baby in this timeless story of friendship and adventure. An Elephant meets a Bad Baby. And so begins a wild adventure - going 'rumpeta, rumpeta, rumpeta' down the road, and helping themselves to ice creams, lollipops, and all manner of sweet treats. But as a long line of disgruntled shopkeepers and salespeople begin to follow them, Bad Baby learns the importance of saying 'please,' and all the trouble you can get into if you forget! Packed with delightful illustrations and repetitive text, The Elephant and the Bad Baby is the perfect bedtime story for toddlers.

Here is the Kirkus review from 1969. Notice the intriguing word dirigibuilt. Read more about Raymond Briggs here. 

I did find this video which you could use without the sound as a way to read the book aloud to a larger group. I love all the things the elephant and the baby eat - ice cream, a pie, a bun, crisps (chips), and a chocolate biscuit. 

In this post, though, I want to feature the delightful art by Raymond Briggs.

British children's author Michael Rosen writes in his obituary on the death of Raymond Briggs: "I first became acquainted with Briggs' work as a parent when I read his books The Mother Goose Treasury and Father Christmas and Elfrida Vipont's The Elephant and the Bad Baby, which he illustrated. Briggs created landscapes, scenes, and familiar characters with a seemingly gentle comic ease. There were then – and still are for readers today – humorous corners and details that could amaze the child's eye, such as the tip of the elephant's trunk coming to the side from the right and grabbing an apple. 'There he is!' the children shouted."  The Guardian (Online) 11. August 2022

George Speaks by Dick King Smith

Bookseller blurb: Laura is amazed when her baby brother George starts talking to her when he's only four weeks old, particularly as he sounds like a grown-up! It's a big secret to keep from their parents and the rest of the family and leads to all sorts of comic confusion until George's first birthday - when he makes a speech to his startled family.

This little junior novel is just plain fun. It would be terrific family or class read aloud. The baby is not supposed to be able to talk let alone do times tables and even read! And his birthday speech is magnificent.

The copy I found in a library was published in 1988 so I held my breath thinking this book would surely be out of print - but NO. Here is the ISBN for the 2021 reprint [9780141316406]. My copy has illustrations by Judy Brown - here is the old cover. I am not sure who has illustrated this newer copy. 

And here are some other covers - you could use these in a library session as a discussion starter about covers and book designers and fonts and reader appeal.

This version is illustrated by Chris Riddell

Dick King-Smith served in the Grenadier Guards during the Second World War and afterwards spent twenty years as a farmer in Gloucestershire, the county of his birth. Many of his stories are inspired by his farming experiences. Later he taught at a village primary school. His first book, The Fox Busters, was published in 1978. He wrote a great number of children’s books, including The Sheep-Pig (winner of the Guardian Award and filmed as Babe), Harry’s Mad, Noah’s Brother, The Queen’s Nose, Martin’s Mice, Ace, The Cuckoo Child and Harriet’s Hare (winner of the Children’s Book Award in 1995). At the British Book Awards in 1991 he was voted Children’s Author of the Year. In 2009 he was made an OBE for services to children’s literature. Dick King-Smith died in 2011 at the age of eighty-eight.

You might also have a really old book in your library called Crumbs by Emily Rodda which is also about a baby who can talk.

The very best words by Erin Munro illustrated by Sarah Trolle

Emma has a new baby brother. He can't talk yet, so she decides to help him find the very best words. Over the year - each month - Emma shares words with James. And by the end of a whole year, at his first birthday, James says his first words back to Emma.

This book would be an absolutely perfect present for a family with a new baby. I have a Pinterest of picture books for families with a new baby brother or sister. At the back of the book there is a word list with brief definitions - I found a new word - susurration (a soft whisper or murmur). The list also includes some of my own favourite words - bamboozle; flibbertigibbet; winndershins; collywobbles; and kerfuffle. Of course, the most important word of all is love!

See inside this book here. This is a picture book from New Zealand. It is published by Little Moa. 

Sarah Trolle (pronounced Tro-lay) is a primary school teacher and illustrator living near Kina Beach in Nelson, New Zealand. She has always loved painting, drawing and printmaking, and from a young age was inspired by writers and illustrators such as Margaret Mahy, Joy Cowley, Shirley Hughes, Raymond Briggs, Jan Pienkowski and Julie Vivas. She now spends a lot of her time teaching and creating art with children. You can find Sarah on instagram @SarahJTrolle.

Erin Munro (author) is a content and copywriter by day and can be found working from a local cafe, or her home while the family is out. Working with words keeps her imagination running wild, and she now carries around a notebook to keep track of fun words she comes across - the current favourite is dandelion. The very best words is her debut picture book. 

Fly, Chick, Fly! by Jeanne Willis illustrated by Tony Ross

"If I fly, a crow might get me. If I fly, the rain might wet me. If I fly, a train might hit me. My sister flew and never came back. Why would I want to fly?"

Her sister flew and never came back. Her brother flew away and never came back. The parents keep trying to explain her siblings are not far away and that all baby birds must eventually fly away from the nest. 

"So the last chick left the nest. She crept to the end of the branch. She flapped. She flipped. She flopped. And this time ... she flew!"

The last chick does find her own hollow tree. The last chick builds her own nest and in time, the last chick has a chick of her own!

The repetitive, alliterative poem and realistic pictures work together to tell the story. Ross' illustrations vary in size and placement on the white pages. Done with pastels on a textured base, they show barn owls with endearing, heart-shaped faces. Kirkus

This is a perfect book for a young child and it should be part of all preschool library collections. Sadly it was published in 2012 so it is long out of print. I dream of the day someone asks for submissions of books that should be reprinted. This is one I would put forward.

I saw this book in the library I visit each week and I knew it would be fabulous because of this particular combination of author - Jeanne Willis - and illustrator - Tony Ross. I have loved some of their previous collaborations.

Mayfly Day

Boa's Bad Birthday

Companion books to read with Fly, Chick, Fly:

Puffling

Lucy Goosey

Almost Anything

Little Tree