TWO "GOODNIGHT BOOKS" FROM MARGARET WISE BROWN

Margaret Wise Brown
1910-1952

Today marks the birthday of Margaret Wise Brown, one of America's most prolific children's book authors of the Twentieth Century. She attempted to write most of her books from the "here and now" perspective of a child, rather than in the more popular style of the day: fairytale and fantasy.  Her books often included animals and everyday things that mattered to children.  Even though she died at the young age of 42, at the peak of her career she had over 100 books in print.  She chose her illustrators carefully.  They included Clement Hurd, Garth Williams, Felicia Bond, and Leonard Weisgard.

HER GOODNIGHT BOOKS...

She is probably best known for her timeless classic, GOODNIGHT MOON (1947), illustrated by Clement Hurd.  Who can forget the rhythmic text that begins:

In the great green room

There was a telephone 

And a red balloon

And a picture of --

The cow jumping over the moon!

The whole story takes place in one room, as the baby bunny bids a ritual "goodnight" to all the objects in his room.  Have you ever noticed these little details...

-the hands on the two clocks progress from 7 PM to 8:10 PM.
-the young mouse and kittens wander around the room. The mouse is present in all pages showing the room.
-the red balloon hanging over the bed disappears in several of the color plates, then reappears at the end.
-the room lighting grows progressively darker.
-the moon rises in the left-hand window.
-the socks disappear from the drying rack.
-the open book in the bookshelf is The Runaway Bunny.
-the book on the nightstand is Goodnight Moon.
-in the painting of the cow jumping over the moon, the mailbox in the right-hand side of the painting occasionally disappears.
-in the painting of the three bears, the painting hanging in the bears' room is a painting of a cow jumping over the moon.
-the painting of the fly-fishing bunny, which appears only in two color plates, appears to be black and white (or otherwise devoid of color). It is very similar to a picture in the book The Runaway Bunny.
-the number of books in the bookshelf changes.
-the pendulum of the bedside clock disappears in the final room scene
-the stripes on the bunny's shirt change
-in the last page the word bunny is gone off the brush

A new (though even older never-before-published!) "goodnight book" by Margaret Wise Brown is THE FATHERS ARE COMING HOME (2010), pictures by talented illustrator Stephen Savage.

It is nighttime and the fathers are coming home... 

This book is a perfect bedtime story, and would also be a great read for Father's Day.  The original manuscript was written in 1943, as a tribute to WWII fathers, but it was never published.  Though lost for years with many other of Brown's writings, it was finally published in 2010. The story is about fathers returning to their children at the day's end - birds, bugs, bunnies, fish - and finally, a sailor dad coming home from sea to his child.  The bold and colorful illustrations and simple, lyrical text make a sweet book for 2-5 year olds.

CRADLE SONGS AND LULLABYS

The other day as I was driving home on one of our many crowded freeways, a beautiful piano piece began playing on our local classical radio station.  Immediately I began to relax to it's slow, rocking rhythm.  It reminded me a little bit of the music I enjoyed so much in the recent Disney movie UP.  If you liked that, you'll like this!  It's Chopin's Berceuse, which is translated "Cradle Song" or "Lullaby".

As soon as I got home, I googled the piece and found a fun artwork montage and recording of the music. The montage (artwork by Vladstudio) starts with some winter and Christmas scenes - which reminds me:  tomorrow, November 15th,  I "unveil" my list of Christmas book faves, FORTY BOOKS FOR FORTY DAYS.  Remember to "Comment away for my Advent Giveaway" on today's and tomorrow's posts.  (Winner to be announced on November 16.)

Click HERE to listen and watch BERCEUSE.


OF COURSE, I HAD TO SHARE A COUPLE OF CUTE BEDTIME STORIES FOR YOU.  What were your favorites?

SWEET DREAMS LULLABY (toddler-preschool)
This imaginative, peaceful bedtime book invites a bunny (tucked snugly into bed) to dream of comforting scenes from nature's nighttime.  Each page reveals a delightful dreamscape for children to imagine as they drift off to sleep with the lulling, rhyming text...

"Dream of purple twilight skies,

a bedtime kiss from butterflies.

Caterpillars in cocoons

are tucked in tight beneath the moon."

ALL ASLEEP by Joanna Walsh (baby-toddler).
The gentle text is about all babies - from tall babies to small babies, from babies asleep in cars, to babies snoozing under the stars. It's a perfect bedtime rhythmical board book story for babies everywhere. I also love that it represents multi-ethnic babies.






Youtube Link:  Chopin's Berceuse (or "Cradle Song")

WYNKEN, BLYNKEN AND NOD

Wynken, Blynken and Nod Fountain in Wellsboro, PA



 WYNKEN, BLYNKEN, AND NOD, by Eugene Field, illustrated by Susan Jeffers.  (ages 4-8).  My last entry was about Susan Jeffers and her beautiful books and illustrations.  One book she illustrated that I didn't mention deserves its own post!  Wynken, Blynken and Nod is actually a poem, originally titled "Dutch Lullaby".  (I've posted the full text below.) The poem is a bedtime story of three fishermen sailing and fishing in the stars. Their boat is a wooden shoe. The fishermen symbolize a sleepy child's blinking eyes and nodding head.

Over 100 years ago, "Wynken, Blynken and Nod" came alive in the imagination of Eugene Field and on March 9, 1889, he penned the immortal words of this perfect childhood poem.  Field, considered to be the first newspaper columnist in the US, lived only 45 years - from 1850 to 1895. During that time, he wrote over 500 poems and short stories, many about children. He believed childhood was the most precious time of life and therefore, should be enjoyed by day dreaming, pretending, and using one's imagination before the realities and responsibilities of adulthood were attained.

Click here to watch a video of Walt Disney presenting an introduction to Disney's cartoon version.
Click here to watch the 1938 Disney short of Wynken, Blynken, and Nod (The animation is adorable, but I prefer the poem to the cartoon!)


WYNKEN, BLYNKEN, AND NOD (Dutch Lullaby)

Wynken, Blynken, and Nod one night
Sailed off in a wooden shoe---
Sailed on a river of crystal light,
Into a sea of dew.
"Where are you going, and what do you wish?"
The old moon asked the three.
"We have come to fish for the herring fish
That live in this beautiful sea;
Nets of silver and gold have we!"
Said Wynken,
Blynken,
And Nod.

The old moon laughed and sang a song,
As they rocked in the wooden shoe,
And the wind that sped them all night long
Ruffled the waves of dew.
The little stars were the herring fish
That lived in that beautiful sea---
"Now cast your nets wherever you wish---
Never afeard are we";
So cried the stars to the fishermen three:
Wynken,
Blynken,
And Nod.

All night long their nets they threw
To the stars in the twinkling foam---
Then down from the skies came the wooden shoe,
Bringing the fishermen home;
'T was all so pretty a sail it seemed
As if it could not be,
And some folks thought 't was a dream they 'd dreamed
Of sailing that beautiful sea---
But I shall name you the fishermen three:
Wynken,
Blynken,
And Nod.

Wynken and Blynken are two little eyes,
And Nod is a little head,
And the wooden shoe that sailed the skies
Is a wee one's trundle-bed.
So shut your eyes while mother sings
Of wonderful sights that be,
And you shall see the beautiful things
As you rock in the misty sea,
Where the old shoe rocked the fishermen three:
Wynken,
Blynken,
And Nod.