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Dear Book Lovers, Welcome! I am delighted that you have found The Through the Looking Glass blog. For over twenty years I reviewed children's literature titles for my online journal, which came out six times a year. Every book review written for that publication can be found on the Through the Looking Glass website (the link is below). I am now moving in a different direction, though the columns that I write are still book-centric. Instead of writing reviews, I'm offering you columns on topics that have been inspired by wonderful books that I have read. I tell you about the books in question, and describe how they have have impacted me. This may sound peculiar to some of you, but the books that I tend to choose are ones that resonate with me on some level. Therefore, when I read the last page and close the covers, I am not quite the same person that I was when first I started reading the book. The shift in my perspective might be miniscule, but it is still there. The books I am looking are both about adult and children's titles. Some of the children's titles will appeal to adults, while others will not. Some of the adult titles will appeal to younger readers, particularly those who are eager to expand their horizons.

Friday, October 11, 2013

Poetry Friday - A review of The Silver Moon: Lullabies and Cradle Songs

When my daughter was little I used to sing a lullaby to her every night, and when she got older she used to sing along with me. Our lullaby time was a special moment that we shared at the end of the day. In today's poetry title poet Jack Prelutsky presents some wonderful lullabies that can be spoken or sung.

Jack Prelutsky
Illustrated by Jui Ishida
Poetry Picture Book
For infants to children age 5
HarperCollins, 2013, 978-0-06-201467-2
For centuries adults have been singing songs to their young children to relax them and lull them to sleep. Often the words in such songs are soft, and they mention comforting things and convey dreamy images. For this book poet Jack Prelutsky created twenty lullaby poems that can be sung or spoken. With their gently rocking rhythms and soft words, the poems create an environment that is soothing and calming.
   We begin with a poem about a train that visits dreamland. The train goes “chugging down the track” and it will not return until morning, when its young passengers are ready to emerge from their “dreams of wonder” and wake up.
   Later in the book we meet three animal families. We hear about a fox mother and her cub resting in their den, and see a squirrel mother checking on her baby who is fast asleep in a hole in a tree. We also see a mother pig and her seven little piglets snoozing on hay in their pen. These are scenes of tranquility and we are told that “soon my baby / will slumber by me.”

   With wonderful little poems and soft illustrations that seem to glow on the page, this is a book that would make a wonderful gift for adults who have a new baby in the family.

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