Sleepsong

By George Ella Lyon

Book Overview

It's time. Bears, birds, cats, whales, oceans the earth itself must call it a day. Just the time to pick out this book, climb on a lap, and listen. Just the time to watch the light rise and fall at the corners of your eyes - to doze, to sigh, to say to this day, this one among many, shhhhhh shhhh good-bye.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0689869738
• ISBN13: 9780689869730
• Release Date: December 2008
• Publisher: Atheneum Books
• Length: 40 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 9.2" x 10.0"
• Age Range: 1 to 4 years
• Grade Range: Preschool to Kindergarten

Customer Reviews

A Delight

What a lyrical poem this is. So gently does the author put his baby to sleep: "Everything nests~Shh shh~ Everything rests~ Shh shh Bee in the Hive Whale in the Deep Ocean in Motion Cradling sleep." The author surprised me with the lovely lines throughout the book. None of those harsh, poorly scanned rhyming lines here. Everything flows. The illustrations are just as gentle. This should be fabulous for reading aloud while you put your nestling to bed.

Beautiful artwork, simple story

I enjoyed this book, in part because you can read the story to a child in a different way depending on the mood of the night. The top 2/3 of each page follows an evening routine for a family (father, mother, young girl) as they play, prepare a bath, and tuck into bed. These pictures are in brighter colors (red, yellow, etc). The bottom 1/3 of each page is a glimpse of a different animal (fox, bunny, bear) slumbering. These pictures are full of blues and grays. The text of the story ties the two parts of the page together: "Everything's warm - shh - Safe from harm - Shh shh - Bear in a cave - Mole underground" There is plenty to talk about with the story, either about the family and their activities, or the animals snuggled up together. This is a cute book and would make a good gift as well.

A wonderful book....

This is a wonderful book with beautiful illustrations. You children will be enthralled with watching the parents play with the child as they gently get her ready to go to bed. It's like a choreographed movie as they gently sing and ease her into the bedtime routine. The song they sing is in the back of the book with the music to it also. And it should be online for you to play soon on the author's website. The story starts out with the dad having a finger puppet telling her it's time for bed, then cleaning up her playthings for the day, then telling her a story of how all the animals are also going to bed, then reading her a bedtime story and easing her into bed. They have made a routine of it that is really nice and the child is so happy. Your child will be happy just hearing it and would love the same routine. I could spend hours just looking at the gorgeous illustrations. The people look so real in them. It is an oversized book with pictorial boards and matching dust jacket. A real keepsake for your child to pass on to their children one day.

A great bedtime book!

I love this book. The story is told in a very gentle rhythm that will encourage your children to wind down at the end of the day. Some of the lines are repeated throughout the story which seems to enhance a slowing down as you read such as "Everything nests- shh shh, everything rest- shh shh". The pictures are detailed and could provide a lot things to look at and encourage your child to be involved in discussion if you wanted. The top half of the page is bright and colorful and underneath are more muted pictures of animals sleeping etc usually in line with the words such as "cat on the bed.". It is a story that as your child grows they could take over the reading of the book. I can see this being a delightful addition to any bedtime routine and would be fine for boys or girls. At the end of the book there is even the music to the words if you want to play and sing the book together. I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a bedtime story or a gift for a parent of a young child.

Perfectly Gorgeous, Perfectly Bedtime

While all of the artwork here is beautiful, I especially love the "shaded by night" animals, on the lower half of each page! What a terrific book for bedtime! Also, THANK YOU for dedicating the book to the Moores! Here at our library, we think very highly of them indeed!