When my daughter was little I used to sing her a lullaby at bedtime. She got so used to hearing the song that she refused to go to sleep if someone did not sing it for her. Even her father, who does not like to sing at all, had to give in and sing the song when he put her to bed.
Today's poetry title is full of poems that can be spoken or sung to comfort children who is about to go to sleep.
Goodnight Songs
Today's poetry title is full of poems that can be spoken or sung to comfort children who is about to go to sleep.
Goodnight Songs
Margaret Wise Brown
Illustrated by twelve Award-Winning Picture Book Artists
Poetry Picture Book with Audio CD
For ages 4 to 6
Sterling Children’s books, 2014, 978-1-4549-0446-5
Many years ago author Margaret Wise Brown noticed that many
children hum or sing little songs as they go about their day. She decided to
write the words of songs that she hoped would “capture the spirit of a
children’s world,” and collaborated with famous musicians of the time to create
songs that would best compliment her words. Unfortunately, Margaret’s songs
were not published in her lifetime and for many years they lay forgotten in a
trunk full of Margaret’s writings. Thankfully, her songs were discovered by an
editor and now, many years after they were written, they are presented to the
world in this beautiful picture book.
The poems chosen
for this collection are all perfect for bedtime. We read about a little goat on
a hill who “drank his supper and drank his fill” before going to sleep. We
visit a little wooden town at night when there is “no one around.” The streets
in this town “ran up” and “ran down” and everywhere “there wasn’t a sound.” We
find out what someone sees “When I close my eyes at night.” The person sees
“Blue clouds in a big white sky,” and a place where “bright green birds go
flying by.”
Packed with
soothing images, gently rhythmic phrases, and verse that calms and quietens the
heart and mind, this book would make a wonderful gift for families with a young
child. The accompanying artwork is beautifully rendered to compliment Margaret
Wise Brown’s words, and to bring the poems to life so that young children have
something special to look at as they explore the book.
When they are
sung the poems in this book serve as lullabies that offer children a soothing
close to their day, and the accompanying CD features recordings of these
lullabies, giving young children and their grownups a special way to enjoy
Margaret Wise Brown’s lovely words.
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