Review by New York Times Review
SHHH! I'M SLEEPING Written and Illustrated by Dorothée de Monfreid. 132 pp. Gecko. $12.99. (Board book; ages 2 to 5) Eight dogs in a pair of quadruple-level bunk beds make for a raucous bedtime shuffle in this clever, delightfully illustrated oversize comics-style board book. A giant hound named Popov is snoring, which wakes the others, one by one. There's a request for a drink of water and some toy-borrowing and bed-swapping before everyone ends up in Misha's top bunk. He reads a story that puts them to sleep. All but the snorer, who wakes with the sun, wondering where everyone is. BLANCHE HATES THE NIGHT Written and illustrated by Sibylle Delacroix. Translated by Christelle Morelli. 24 pp. OwlKids. $16.95. (Picture book; ages 2 to 6) It's not that Blanche doesn't want to go to sleep. The problem is night itself: so gray, and "such a pain!" The worst part is you can't even play. Trying to chase away the moon, she bangs a drum and bursts into song, ignoring her mother's calls from the doorway. Soon her bed is a trampoline. With adorable, shadowy drawings, Delacroix ("Prickly Jenny") offers a refreshing c'est la vie take on bedtime conflict. The mom stays offstage; when Blanche finally conks out it's from sheer exhaustion. ROCK-A-BYE ROMP By Linda Ashman. Illustrated by Simona Mulazzani. 32 pp. Nancy Paulsen. $16.99. (Picture book; ages 2 to 6) "Sweet little Baby, rocking with me- / Who'd put a cradle high in a tree?" The dark heart of "Rockabye Baby" inspires Ashman's rhyming bedtime tale, which turns the scary nursery classic into a dreamy, surreal journey for a lucky baby. Mulazzani's painterly illustrations create a magical mood, with creamy colors, soft patterns and a rosy-cheeked baby looking blissed out by the trip. A hawk brings the child home to a smiling mom and a bedroom with a cradle and a groovy mural. GOODNIGHT OWL Written and Illustrated by Greg Pizzoli. 48 pp. Disney-Hyperion. $16.99. (Picture book; ages 3 to 6) Things don't go as planned in the stylish midcentury-modern-looking picture books by Pizzoli ("The Watermelon Seed," "Number One Sam"). But his creatures know how to triumph over neurotic disappointment, and Owl is no exception. That "tiny sound" keeping him awake? He's determined to find it, emptying cupboards, pulling up floorboards - even, in a gloriously mad gesture, taking the very roof and walls off his house. It was just a mouse, but it's nice to sleep under the stars. HOW TO PUT YOUR PARENTS TO BED By Mylisa Larsen. Illustrated by Babette Cole. 32 pp. Katherine Tegen. $17.99. (Picture book; ages 4 to 8) Watch out, parents! This hilarious book is onto you, with your hypocritical preaching about how important it is to go to bed. A demonic-looking cat narrates, telling the child listener to "take charge" and get those grown-ups to sleep already. Ignore excuses like "Just one more email," the cat advises, and "keep them moving toward the bedroom." Cole's frisky illustrations bust the lid right off the secret chaos of modern family life. ONLINE An expanded visual presentation of this week's column at nytimes.com/books.
Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [February 7, 2016]
Review by Booklist Review
Ashman and Mulazzani have breathed twenty-first-century life into this well-know lullaby. The bustling mixed-media illustrations give a modern feel to the rhyming text, which flows easily from page to page and tells the story of the baby, who falls out of the treetop cradle and into a nest. Baby's adventures continue: he bounces around on a farm from a pig to a sheep, floats down a river, and rides a hawk before returning to mother's arms. While there is plenty of action here, the soft pastels and blue-green color scheme give the story a sleepy feel. Touches of patterned paper add visual spark. The animals the baby encounters dominate most pages before coming full circle, appearing in baby's mobile. While the background is minimal, trees with human faces and patterned fish add additional life. Pair with Jane Yolen and Heidi E. Y. Stemple's You Nest Here with Me (2015) for a less adventurous but equally comforting bedtime sojourn.--Ching, Edie Copyright 2016 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Let's face it: as nursery rhymes go, "Rock-a-bye Baby" is ominous at best. Beyond being a real cliffhanger, "And down will come baby, cradle and all" isn't exactly fodder for sweet dreams. "Sweet little Baby, rocking with me-/ Who'd put a cradle high in a tree?" muses Ashman (Little Baby Buttercup) toward the end of her gently funny and eminently reassuring expansion of the original rhyme, which replicates the soothing rhythms of the source material. As her Baby makes a peregrinating journey-from treetop cradle, onto the back of a pig, down a river on a runaway boat, and so on-its journey feels more magical than perilous, as though nature itself were looking out for the wayward child. Mulazzini's (Tree of Wonder) mixed-media paintings play right into the safe, secure mood. Her softly flowing shapes, subdued palette, and quirky details (like purple flowers nestled in the fleece of a sheep) create the sense of a dreamscape-a feeling enhanced by the animals and objects that appear in a mobile in Baby's bedroom at book's end. Ages 1-3. Author's agent: Jennifer Mattson, Andrea Brown Literary Agency. Illustrator's agency: Morgan Gaynin. (Jan.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-For singing or reading aloud, this rhyming picture book expands on the "Rock-a-bye, Baby" lullaby, opening with a gentle scene of a cradle in the treetops and a sleeping baby. With the page turn, the text begins to ask key questions: "Rock-a-bye, Baby,/in the treetop./How did you ever get so high up?/Evening is near now./Hear the wind blow./Branches are shaking./Where'd Baby go?" The accompanying illustration, straying from the original plot, now shows only an empty cradle in the treetop. Here Baby's adventure truly begins. From crow's nest to pig's back, Baby joyously ricochets throughout a farm with a variety of barnyard animals and then onto a boat and over a waterfall. Finally, the attentive moon intervenes and has the hawk bring Baby home to its (grounded) cradle and its mother. "Babies in trees are fine in a song./But you, little one,/are where you belong." Careful observation reveals that the mural, mobile, and bedding in Baby's room all contain the adventure's plot points and characters. Soothing, dreamy art done in mixed media, including acrylic, colored pencil, and collage on paper, keeps the dark palette and wild adventure from feeling threatening with its friendly animals and personified sun, moon, and occasional trees all keeping watch over the baby. VERDICT This gently rhyming adventure provides a new take on a classic lullaby that may calm caregivers troubled by lyrics of babies falling from treetops.-Julie Roach, Cambridge Public Library, MA © Copyright 2015. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
Bothered by the crashing end to the traditional "Rock-a-Bye Baby"? Here's your alternative: evocatively sensory rhymes take Baby from treetop to bird's nest and so on, until "Over the rivers, over the farms, / Baby flies home... / And into my arms." The grin on Babys face while traversing magical realisminspired nightscapes leaves no doubt that this is a thrill ride. (c) Copyright 2016. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Ashman's fresh take on the classic lullaby "Rock-A-Bye, Baby" first expands upon and then addresses the nonsensical aspects of the verses. A wordless page facing the copyright information shows the familiar image of a baby asleep in a treetop cradle. Even though the baby is smiling and the cradle appears to be securely lodged, there is something unsettling about the high perch. The page turn reveals the now-empty cradle with the accompanying verse, "Evening is near now. / Hear the wind blow. / Branches are shaking / Where'd Baby go?" What follows is a succession of increasingly silly resting or play scenarios for babyfirst the tot lands in a bird's nest, then atop a pig, then next to a sheep, and so on. Tumbles and flights resolve into a homecoming to mother's arms, where the scene reveals a nursery decorated with the animals and places of baby's adventures. This suggests that baby was always with mother, who made up this rock-a-bye romp of a song for her little one, concluding it with the lines, "Sweet little Baby, rocking with me / Who'd put a cradle high in a tree? / Babies in trees are fine in a song // But you, little one, / are where you belong." Mulazzani's mixed-media art indulges in delightful decorative details that provide visual interest, but it stops short of fully indulging in the silliness of the playful verses. A fine addition to the nursery bookshelf for baby and all. (Picture book. 0-3) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
