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Goodnight Songs are a set of previously unpublished lullabies by Margaret Wise Brown with illustrations by twelve different illustrators.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. 

Cricket in the Thicket by Carol Murray illustrated by Melissa Sweet

There are thirty poems in this lively collection and as a bonus each page also has a small fact box with extra science details about the featured 'bug'.

Walking Stick Courage

If it's skinny
like a twig - 
and it looks 
like a twig - 
and it feels
like a twig - 
then -
it must be a twig.
C'mon, let's touch it.
You first!

I was browsing the poetry section of the library I visit each week (looking for one poem in a picture book for an IBBY talk we are preparing) when I spied this 'sweet' looking poetry collection. Melissa Sweet's art is always so special. Now for the bad news - yes this is out of print - but it might be available in your local or school library. This book was published in 2017.

Sweet’s dependably eye-catching illustrations—infused with humor here—are an appropriate match. Care was given to balancing gender among those poems that use pronouns, and there is, incidentally, a note devoted to the fact that female ladybugs are nearly indistinguishable from male ladybugs. Happy-go-lucky fun with words, collage, and a smattering of facts about bugs. Kirkus

Cricket in the Thicket is an entertaining and informative collection of poems.  Poems are written from a child-like perspective, using vocabulary and sound words they will enjoy.  The poems have a smooth rhythm and flow.  Often a whimsical approach is taken when describing the insects, such as the idea of hugging a ladybug or a cricket being an alarm. Books 4 Learning

See more books by Carol Murray here. 

Carol describes her book: A nonfiction picture book of poetry about fascinating insects with accompanying facts, notes, and illustrations by the Caldecott-winning Melissa Sweet.

Pray tell us, Mr. Mantis,

Do you pray or simply prey?

Do you scout about for victims

Or fold your hands all day?

In addition to the playful rhyming poems, the supplementary text highlights surprising facts about bugs of all kinds - from familiar ants to exotic dragonflies, cringe-worthy ticks and magnificent fireflies. Melissa Sweet's collage-inspired mixed-media illustrations beautifully render these creatures and complement the poems' whimsical tones. This is an enchanting and informative look at a perennial topic of interest for kids - cool bugs!

Carol Murray loves ladybugs, Melissa Sweet loves stick insects and I love the idea (I have never seen one of course) of fireflies.

We glitter and glimmer
and put on a show
in honor of Earth - 
come and share in our glow!

Woven in, around and under the title text Melissa Sweet places many of the bugs highlighted in the narrative.  She gives them personality with a plus! The varnished red on cricket and green on thicket add to the pizzazz of her design.  ... These illustrations rendered in watercolor and mixed media are as fascinating as the subjects they feature.  On the title page a grasshopper is leaping over an array of flowers beneath the text.  On the dedication page a close-up of a leaf shows a grasshopper munching out a large hole.  He is looking right at the reader through the gap in the leaf. For each poem a distinctive, individualistic image has been created, many of them bringing the insect world closer to readers. ...  Her unique details will have you stopping at every page turn; a cricket poised on the edge of a red tennis shoe, ants crawling over a single stalk as a night scene unfolds, inchworms and measuring tape for a garden plot, the B in buzz becoming bumblebee wings, six circles showing a roly-poly rolling...up and unrolling and June bugs blasting against a light bulb.  ... Librarian's Quest

How to Write a Poem by Kwane Alexander and Deanna Nikaido illustrated by Melissa Sweet

 

"Close your eyes, open the window of your mind and climb out, 
like a seedling reaching for tomorrow."

Every word of this book is liquid gold - plan to read this aloud before your group of students begin their writing - poetry or prose.

Kwame says: "A poem is a small but mighty thing. It has the power to reach inside, to teach us, to ignite our imaginations. Now more than ever, children need a surefire way to channel their emotions, build their confidence and discover the world and their place in it. Poetry, with its simplicity, with its accessibility and rhythm, can do all these things instantaneously."

Melissa Sweet says: "This collage art was made with vintage and handmade papers, paint, pencils, printed letterforms, and beach pebbles."

I want to say run into your school library and ask/demand that the Teacher-Librarian buys this book but in reality here in Australia this wonderful book is very expensive. I have friends who work in NSW schools who have such small library budgets - so this book is not one they could ever consider acquiring. I have looked at a range of online and store front sellers and the price of this book varies between $30 and $44. I guess very few school libraries will be able to purchase this book but perhaps you will find it in a local library or you could view the ebook version. 

Marvelously crafted to inspire blooming writers. Kirkus Star review

Here are other books about writing poetry:

This is a poem that heals fish

Daniel finds a poem

Kwame Alexander is a poet, educator, producer and #1 New York Times bestselling author of 39 books, including Why Fathers Cry at Night, An American Story, The Door of No Return, Becoming Muhammad Ali (co-authored with James Patterson), Rebound, which was shortlisted for the prestigious UK Carnegie Medal, and The Undefeated, the National Book Award nominee, Newbery Honor, and Caldecott Medal-winning picture book illustrated by Kadir Nelson.

Companion volume:

Look for these too all illustrated by Melissa Sweet:

Some Writer!

Carmine a little more red

The Right Word