Goodnight Songs by Margaret Wise Brown

Goodnight Songs are a set of previously unpublished lullabies by Margaret Wise Brown with illustrations by twelve different illustrators. I knew six of the names and six I needed to investigate.  You already know I do enjoy books like this that bring together the work of different illustrators. 

Jonathan Bean; Carin Berger; Sophie Blackall; Linda Bleck; Renata Liwska; Christopher Silas Neal; Zachariah O'Hora; Eric Puybaret; Sean Qualls; Isabel Roxas; Melissa Sweet; and Dan Yaccarino. The cover illustration is by Isabel Roxas. You can see more of her books here. My fabourite pages are the ones by Eric Puybaret (from France) and Sophie Blackall.

Melissa Sweet

Watch this video to see and hear some of the illustrators and learn more about how this book came to be discovered and published. 

Listen to a two-minute audio sample here of the first lullaby - The Noon Balloon. There are links here to all of the songs (but this site does have advertisements). You can see all the pages from Goodnight Songs here. 

As for the poetry, it feels wonderfully, authentically Margaret Wise Brown. Though full of fanciful ideas and imagery, Brown’s work never gets to be “too much” for kids to digest. Her specialty has always been simple words and phrases, rocking repetition, and a youthful perspective—a kid’s-eye view, so to speak. These new poems are no different and employ the familiar language and lilt of her classics. Barnes and Noble

"One can hope to make a child laugh or feel clear and happy-headed as he follows the simple rhythm to its logical end. It can jog him with the unexpected and comfort him with the familiar, lift him for a few minutes from his own problems of shoelaces that won't tie, and busy parents and mysterious clock time, into the world of a bug or a bear or a bee or a boy living in the timeless world of a story." Margaret Wise Brown

Goodnight Songs was published in 2014 so it is now sadly out of print but if you can find a copy and you have a music teacher in your school you should share this book which comes with a CD so you can hear and sing each of the twelve lullabies. 

Two Little Trains by Margaret Wise Brown illustrated by Leo and Diane Dillon

"Two little trains went down the track, two little trains went west. Puff, puff, puff and chug, chug chug, two little trains to the West."

On the cover you can see the real train - the silver train - at the station. On the station there are two cases and a present. The present is a toy train and as you turn inside the present is unwrapped and then the dual story begins. On the left side we watch the journey of the huge silver train across a variety of landscapes meanwhile on the right or facing page the little toy train navigates landscapes inside the house. This idea is just genius and so different from the interpretations of the text by the two previous illustrators. My edition from 2001 takes this simple text to a whole new and completely wonderful level.

Look down, look down that long steel track

That long steel track to the west.

Take your time when you read this with your young reading companion because each pairing of outside and inside is such a visual treat. See inside here.

Two Little trains was first published in 1949 with illustrations by Jean Charlot. In 2000 the publisher released a new edition with illustrations by Greg Pizzoli. All editions are now out of print but you might be lucky and find one in a library - hopefully the one illustrated by Leo and Diane Dillon.

Image from the Jean Charlot foundation

The Dillons illustrate both the charming domestic interiors and the sweep of landscape with elegant geometric forms, colors of great depth and richness, and their magical touch ... The relationship between the two trains is also illuminated on the cover, where, next to the silver train sits a set of luggage with a beribboned gift whose box is stamped with the image of the toy train. Kirkus Star review

I am little bit obsessed with Margaret Wise Brown (1920-1952) although oddly not because of her really famous book Goodnight Moon. Luckily my friend from Kinderbookswitheverything has plenty of books by Margaret Wise Brown in her school library but of course this is only a tiny portion of her amazing output which was over 100 books. 

The Little Fir Tree by Margaret Wise Brown illustrated by Barbara Cooney

 

The seed grows into a little fir tree. After seven summers a man comes early in Winter and carefully digs up the tiny tree. The tree becomes the focus of their Christmas and brings joy to his young son who is not able to walk or leave his bed. 

This pattern continues for several years until one Winter the man does not come. The little fir tree thinks he has been forgotten and then in a beautiful turn of events a group of caroling children arrive and leading the way is the young boy who is now able to walk into the forest to see his special tree. Interspersed throughout the book there are Christmas carols and other traditional Christmas songs.

The songs are: O Christmas Tree; O come little milk cows; Here we come a wassailing.

Margaret Wise Brown (1910 - 1952) wrote over 100 books including the famous Goodnight Moon and my personal favourite - An Important Book. I previously talked about The Dead Bird and A Home in the Barn. 

This is another very old Christmas book. I talked about Christmas Eve at the Mellops' yesterday.  The Little Fir Tree was first published in 1954 but my copy is a 1982 reprint. This book does have an old-fashioned feel but the story is a gentle classic. Here is the edition from 2009.

Reading A Little Fir Tree reminded me of a story from my childhood that has lingered with me decades after I read it in the 1960s. It told a similar story about young disabled (they used the word crippled) child who cannot leave their bed. This story was in the 'reader' Travelling On. The title is 'The Little Cuckoo Clock' and the credits at the front of this book list is as a story by Gilmore Wood. In this story a clock maker brings the child a beautifully carved cuckoo clock as a special Christmas gift. The miracle of the healing an unwell child is also the theme of The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett and Heidi by Johanna Spryi.

A Home in the Barn by Margaret Wise Brown illustrated by Jerry Pinkney

"There are two supporting actors (in this story) - the blustery wind and the barn itself. I knew my challenge would be to make the wind visible and give a muted voice to the barn. I chose drifting leaves and slightly bent grasses, cornstalks, and trees to suggest the presence of the wind. For the barn I decided on the colour red, to speak to its essential role as a place of warmth and safety." - Jerry Pinkney

It is warm and snug in the barn but it is also noisy and slightly chaotic and just now a new calf has been born. The barn is a shelter from the freezing winter for the farm animals (cows, horses, chickens, a cat, pigs and goats) but also for the field mice, insects and swallows. When I lived in Canada I was fascinated by all the red barns. They look like they belong in a storybook - and here it is! And when you stretch out the cover of this book you can see all of the animals who have moved inside.

This never-before-published picture book from beloved children’s book author Margaret Wise Brown (1910-1952) tells the comforting, snowy story of animals seeking shelter from the cold in a big warm barn. This book was published in 2018. 

This one is filled with the glory of Jerry Pinkney’s genial, radiant, captivating artwork. Every page is a splendor. Orange Marmalade Books

Pinkney’s luminous watercolor-and-pastel illustrations create a cozy environment for the animals, using a double-page–spread format, a large trim size, and a thoughtful design. Tiny details are hidden in the pages, such as a grasshopper perched on a dried cornstalk and a line of ants marching toward the barn, and sound effects from some of the animals are also integrated into the illustrations. An artist’s note gives interesting, specific details about Pinkney’s artistic process. Kirkus

Have you met Jerry Pinkney (1939-2021) - by that I mean are you familiar with his unique and wonderful illustrations? I was so lucky to see him at a USBBY conference in 2019. 

Jerry Pinkney was "widely acclaimed for his picture books honoring his Black heritage as well as for his richly detailed works reimagining well-loved fairy and folktales," noted Publishers Weekly. His version of The Lion & the Mouse by Aesop was awarded the Caldecott Medal, and his books also received five Caldecott Honor citations. He was recognized with two lifetime achievement awards: the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award (now known as the Children’s Literature Legacy Award) and the Coretta Scott King Virginia Hamilton Award. Harper Collins

This is another of those bargain books I picked up from a large bookstore in our city. They have culled their children's books acquired in 2018 and earlier. A Home in the Barn has been waiting for a new home since December 2018. The price may have been the factor - it was AUS$30 but with the 50% off sale my copy was way more affordable. And it has a dust jacket and is printed on high quality paper. The price of this book is now way beyond the budget of any school library at AUS$40. 

The Dead Bird by Margaret Wise Brown illustrated by Christian Robinson

 

We sing to you because you're dead feather bird

And we buried you in the ground with ferns and flowers

Because you will never fly again in the sky

Way up high little dead bird.

A group of children head into a park with their kite and dog. On the grass they see a small bird and it is dead. 

"But it had not been dead for long - it was still warm and its eyes were closed. The children felt with their fingers for the quick beat of the bird's heart in its breast. But there was no heart beating. That was how they knew it was dead."

Following a western convention of burial the children decide the bury the small bird in the woods near the park and then they sing a sweet song, cry a few tears and lay flowers on the little grave. On a stone they write - here lies a bird that is dead.

"But they were glad they had found it, because now they could dig a grave in the woods and bury it. They could have a funeral and sing to it the way grown-up people did when someone died."

Margaret Wise Brown uses such beautiful words to describe the way the children prepare the little grave.

"They put warm sweet-ferns in the bottom of the grave. And they wrapped the bird in grapevine leaves. ... they put more ferns on top of it, and little white violets, and yellow star flowers."

Margaret Wise Brown (1910-1952) wrote this book in 1938 - yes that is 85 years ago. But it was not published until after her death. This story was never published during her lifetime because the subject matter was considered too dark, but she always advocated for it to be released. The 1958 version was illustrated by Remy Charlip.  In 2016 Christian Robinson added his own very special illustrations. In 2016 a local bookshop opened in a suburb near my home and in 2016 they added this book to their shop shelves. In June 2023 this terrific little local bookshop closed. As you would expect they had a wonderful book sale over the final days so I headed over to snag a few bargains. After waiting seven years The Dead Bird, which had sat on the shop shelves all that time, has now found a new home (with me). I know all of this because the price sticker lists the date the book came to the store - 26th August, 2016.

I read that Margaret Wise Brown wrote this book based on the ideas of something called 'The Here and Now' movement but I have not been able to discover more about this which I assume was something from the 1930s in the US and I did read it aimed to celebrate ordinary moments in life.

In this post at Seven Impossible things before Breakfast you can read about all the decisions Christian Robinson had to make for the cover and illustrations for this book. In this post based on her podcast Betsy Bird compares the 1958 version of The Dead Bird with the newer one illustrated by Christian Robinson. 

In the US there are some very harsh decisions being made about banning children's books. I do hope this does not happen here in Australia. I would not hesitate to add this book to a school or public library collection. I wonder why it languished in the bookshop for so long - the cover is appealing - so perhaps the issue was the word 'dead' on the cover especially since it is black and in capital letters. You can see inside this book here. 

This is such an honest book about death and grief. It captures that intense wave of sorrow upon finding a dead animal, the immediate connection children have to that creature and the importance of following through in a process of loss. The writing is superb, capturing these complex feelings but also not endowing them with too much weight. There is also a feeling of time passing and life moving on, even though the sadness was so large at first. Waking Brain Cells

Please think about this review comment - it is one I heartily endorse and so does my friend from Kinderbookswitheverything:

While generations of parents have discovered this book during a period of loss we think the book is best introduced in the normal rotation of stories as a wonderful way to help children start to think about the deep mystery that is life.

Companion books:

Fox: A circle of life story

A Last Goodbye

The bear and the wild cat

Be Brave, Little Tiger! by Margaret Wise Brown illustrated by Jean Claude

Margaret Wise Brown is famous for her book Goodnight Moon but she was actually the author of more than one hundred books. Seventy books were found after her death in 1952 and all have been published posthumously.  One of those books is Be Brave, Little Tiger which was published in 2018. I love the idea that a book written over seventy years ago has such a modern look. I also love the global connections in this story - an author from USA, an illustrator from UK and readers here in Australia. I mentioned that this book looks 'modern'.  I will explain:

When you pick up this book there are some delightful things to notice - features which may not have been added if this book had been published back when Margaret Wise Brown first wrote the text. The vibrant full colour illustrations, the two different end papers - morning scene and night scene, framed illustrations, full page illustrations, double page illustrations and pages where you need to turn the book sideways. The text uses different font styles - bold, italic, size variations and capitals all for emphasis.

Our story opens with a song:

"I'm a brave little tiger, ho ho ho!

I'm not afraid wherever I go!"

But our little tiger is not really brave. This song is just his way of trying to feel brave. He is afraid of the monkeys, the bees, the birds and the fish. He is too scared to jump in the river and join his friends for a swim. His mum and dad give good advice: "everyone is afraid of something sometimes"; "even an elephant is afraid sometimes."

There is a lovely structure to this story. It opens with the little tiger walking through the forest. He repeats this journey the next day but, with his fears put to rest, the whole scene seems different.

There are some wonderful words in this book:

• gargantuan
• lounging
• encountered
• delicately
• skittered

When you pick up this book I am sure you will enjoy sharing it with a preschool child. We all have our fears and worries. The solutions are not simple but with a little effort it is possible to take small steps forward and perhaps feel a little less afraid.