Source: Sterling Children’s Books
Hardcover and CD, 36 pgs
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Goodnight Songs: A Celebration of the Seasons by Margaret Wise Brown is a collection of poems accompanied by beautiful images from 12 award-winning artists. Brown’s verse is tailored to the sensibilities of children and their sense of wonderment about the world around them. All but two of the poems in this collection have never been published because she died before they could be, but even though she died before publishing all of her writing, she had published about 100 books. Many of these poems read like song lyrics. Kids will be immediately engaged by the poems and their rhythm, but the images also are so vivid and beautiful. Some them are reminiscent of pastel renderings. The poems sing the praises of each season, and the artists’ renderings are so enchanting, and the book includes short biographies of each artist. The accompanying CD of music brings these poems even further to life, and kids will love swaying and moving to the rhythm. Some of these are very folksy, but with an undercurrent of country and pop. Very versatile, as some are more soothing for night time activities.
Many of these read like spur-of-the-moment made-up lyrics, which is what children often do on their own from time to time. Singing often gets them to do things they normally would be opposed to, such as cleaning up their messes. Goodnight Songs: A Celebration of the Seasons by Margaret Wise Brown is an adorable collection of poems and songs that will entertain kids for some time, and Brown’s legacy lives on. Another printing from Sterling Children’s books has a more wintery feel to it, but is a great companion for this copy.
About the Author:
Margaret Wise Brown wrote hundreds of books and stories during her life, but she is best known for Goodnight Moon and Runaway Bunny. Even though she died over 45 years ago, her books still sell very well. Margaret loved animals. Most of her books have animals as characters in the story. She liked to write books that had a rhythm to them. Sometimes she would put a hard word into the story or poem. She thought this made children think harder when they are reading. She wrote all the time. There are many scraps of paper where she quickly wrote down a story idea or a poem. She said she dreamed stories and then had to write them down in the morning before she forgot them. She tried to write the way children wanted to hear a story, which often isn’t the same way an adult would tell a story. She also taught illustrators to draw the way a child saw things.