Review by Booklist Review
Through rhyming couplets, an African American father teaches his son to look at a nighttime rainstorm in a positive manner instead of being frightened. Rather than telling his child he will be safe and sound in bed during the storm, the father explains the boy will be safe in sound. The storm's noises are rendered nonthreatening and all allude to music and movement: the rhythm of the rain tapping at the window, the boom of thunder caused by an angelic band, water gurgling in the gutters, and trees dance due to the wind: the wind it howls, / it blows, / it sings / nature's voice: / melody / and strings. Colorful digital illustrations reveal a cityscape being pummeled by rain from varying perspectives, while the child's cozy yellow bedroom is calm, warm, and dry. The clean, precise, and hard outlines of apartment and office buildings contrast with the softer illumination of the streetlights and the storm clouds. This optimistic poem has the ability to turn a potentially scary bedtime into an enjoyable, relaxing experience.--Maryann Owen Copyright 2019 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Sophisticated nighttime spreads by Myers (Wings) and Kaa Illustration accompany this lullaby about a stormy city night by rapper Timbaland, making his debut, and Myers. The group reimagines the scary sounds of a storm as an energetic symphony for a child watching out his window. An African-American father holds his young son as rain spatters against the boy's bedroom windows: "Hey there, darling baby child,/ you're safe in here/ though the storm is wild." The boy is uncertain, his hand around his father's wrist, but the father puts the boy to bed, "safe in sound." As the narration continues to reassure ("Do you hear the raindrops tap/ upon the windows of your nap?"), glittering musical notes appear across the dark sky outside. Meter stays tight ("Radios sing in every home,/ steady like the city's metronome") until, after a clap of thunder, the verse halts to speak words of comfort: "The angels too/ are musicians." Brilliant golds, slate grays, and bright vermilion show passersby, a parade of umbrellas, and an elegant cityscape, and the sleek aesthetic gives the city's wet streets and glowing windows all the surprising glamor of a thumping storm. Ages 4-8. (May) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-As a storm rages outside, a Black father soothes his young son by helping him to find beauty in the sounds of the storm. In this charming poem, Timbaland, Myers, and Kaa Illustration join forces to bring the music of the night to life. Full-page spreads of rich, digitally rendered illustrations mix harmoniously with the lyrical groove of the tapping of rain, rolling thunder, and honking cars create a treat for readers' eyes and ears. This book could help temper the anxieties of children who are afraid of stormy weather or it could be paired with Wendy Cheyette Lewison's Raindrop, Plop! for a lovely rain-themed storytime. VERDICT Beautiful illustrations and a soothing lullaby make this a solid purchase for school and public libraries.-India Winslow, Cary Memorial Library, Lexington, MA © Copyright 2019. 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 Kirkus Book Review
An inner-city lullaby from a black father to his son.When the driving rain comes and the storm winds blow, this brown-skinned dad lovingly comforts his son by associating weather events with different types of music. The raging storm gets remixed into a song, the howling winds create nature's voice, and the rushing waters play music. Like many other celebrity books, this one is didactic and preachy in its approach to addressing the child, who lacks any agency. In this rhyming poem ("radios sing in every home, / steady like the city's metronome"), the scenes jump: from the child's naptime to a band of multitalented black angels singing in heaven to the boy asleep in a yellow paper hat-turned-boat in a city gutter next to the fast-moving shoes of city dwellers. The artwork, which Myers composed with Kaa Illustration (the Vietnam-based team Phung Nguyen Quang and Huyn Kim Lien), looks cartoonish and far inferior to most of Myers' other work. But it would be easy to miss who illustrated the book upon first glance. It would even be easy to miss the title; Timbaland's name so thoroughly dominates the book's cover that most readers will easily mistake it for the book's name.Perhaps this lullaby should have been a song or rap; it certainly has little to offer as a book. (Picture book. 3-8) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
