Baby Bedtime

May 26, 2014
Here’s a wonderful little lesson in the subjunctive from master teacher Fox (Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes). As a purple mother elephant gets her lavender baby ready for bed, she enumerates all the things she “could” do: “I could eat your little ears./ I could nibble on your nose./ I could munch your tiny fingers./ I could gobble up your toes.” Readers will instantly know that Mom has actually done—or is doing—all these things and more, but her savvy grammatical construction enables the mother elephant to assure her baby that he’s adorable while acknowledging the higher power of discipline and routine: “There comes a time for sleeping and our sleepy time is now.” Quay’s (Goodnight, Me) mixed-media pictures establish a mood of reverie, and her characters have blissful, loving expressions that keep the cooing text from turning soggy; sharp eyes will notice that she incorporates actual items of cozy domesticity, like doilies and handkerchiefs, into the pictures. After a few pages of soft-crayoned textures, pastel hues, and arm’s-length framing, a visual sameness sets in, though readers should find it soporific. Ages 4–8.

June 1, 2014
A beautifully rendered, anthropomorphic elephant tenderly (sort of) puts a pachyderm child to bed.The first four sets of pages feature large, bold, purple words on the verso and charmingly smudgy pastel-and-collage artwork on the recto. The initial phrase, "I could eat your little ears," is set opposite a watercolor adult elephant wearing a patterned bathrobe and affectionately embracing a baby elephant. The background is a tastefully decorated room, including a lacy chair holding a thumbed-through (or perhaps trunked-through) book. Established, the pattern follows with this banal-at-best and alarming-at-worst text: "I could nibble on your nose. / I could munch your tiny fingers. / I could gobble up your toes." The pastel purple and gold artwork mesmerizes, as the adult elephant tenderly hoists the baby and proceeds to carry it upstairs toward the bedroom. The text then mentions numerous other possible, now-gentle actions by the adult elephant, as in "I could sing you all the songs that my mother sang to me." Eventually, the rhyming text reaches the expected conclusion, with the adult elephant gently kissing the babe, laid in a bassinet, to sleep. Though it is eminently clear that this child is not about to become supper, the cannibalistic opening quatrain followed by a gushingly affectionate outpouring makes for a book that only a certain type of grandparent could read aloud to a very young grandchild.Quay's striking illustrations cannot rescue this one. (Picture book. 1-3)

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August 1, 2014

PreS-In this soothing bedtime ode, an elephant in a bathrobe snuggles and carries her baby up to bed. Gentle hugs and kisses are accompanied by nose nibbles, toe gobbles, cradling, whispers, book reading, hair stroking, and yawns as bedtime draws near. In this beautifully designed book, a line of text is paired with an image rendered in muted pencils, acrylic paint, and Photoshop. Each illustration abounds in patterns and textures created from items such as doilies, handkerchiefs, lace, baskets, and belts. The elephants have an unfocused, sketchy look that pairs perfectly with twilight and dreams around the corner. This gentle lullaby in book form is perfect for sleepy toddlers and parents who will want to mimic the actions in the book.-Marge Loch-Wouters, La Crosse Public Library, WI

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