Goodnight Songs: A Celebration of the Seasons by Margaret Wise Brown

Goodnight Songs: A Celebration of the Seasons by Margaret Wise Brown
Copyright 2015 (published in August)
Book and CD - Sterling Children's Books/Ages 3-6
36 pp. 

I read and reviewed the first volume of Margaret Wise Brown's Goodnight Songs (also including a music CD) in March of 2014 and enjoyed it enough to jump right on the offer to read and review a second volume, this time with focus on the seasons.

Last time, I read the book before popping in the CD. This time, I decided it would be better to pop the CD in and read along, enjoying the book and music together, as they were intended.

As with the first book, Goodnight Songs: A Celebration of the Seasons contains Margaret Wise Brown's lullabies illustrated by a number of different artists. So, each spread is an entirely different experience. Of course, my favorite illustrations were the two with cats in them, but I really do love the diversity of artistic styles. Musically, I only had one complaint. There was a single song with the kind of "easy listening" style in which the instrumentals made me think of elevator music -- or, maybe something you'd hear in a shopping mall. I don't know what exactly it was about that particular song that made me bristle, but fortunately the rest were lovely.

Recommended - When my kids were small, we had quite a little pile of books on cassette. Some of them were books with music, some were just stories. My children (particularly the eldest) loved being able to play those books repeatedly on their own and Eldest continued to play them when he became old enough to read along. So, I wouldn't limit the reading audience to 3-6 years of age. Youngsters who enjoy music and early readers would love to be able to play this kind of book without Mom's help, long after they've figured out when to turn the pages. The music CD may also be great on its own for relaxing, since the songs have a gentleness that's perfect for nap time.

©2015 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Goodnight Songs by Margaret Wise Brown - book and CD

Goodnight Songs by Margaret Wise Brown is a children's book with selections from songs that Margaret Wise Brown wrote before her death. Packed away for decades, they were just recently brought to light, a selection illustrated and put into book form, the lyrics scored and recorded. 

When I read Goodnight Songs, I have to admit I thought they might be a little awkward to read aloud to a child because they're not overly heavy on rhyme and rhythm. The illustrations are gorgeous but I think the book is best flipped through at leisure by a child with the songs playing in the background. The music itself is wonderful - very folksy and gentle.  I love it so much that I sometimes just play it as comforting background music.  I can particularly visualize the music playing in a preschool during free time or nap time.  It's less sing-along, more relaxation/playtime music, in my humble opinion.

Regardless, I love the book and highly recommend Goodnight Songs those with preschoolers and young elementary children, in particular. The music is beautiful, the illustrations gorgeous, the lyrics not-so-rhythmic but they're probably a lot more comfortable to read aloud once you've done so a few times. 

You can get a peek inside Goodnight Songs, here.

My thanks to Sterling Children's Books for the review copy of Goodnight Songs. 

Brief update because I've been offline:

Our home Internet connection went hinky 2 days ago so I'm actually preparing this post as I sit in a McDonald's, using their wireless and Kiddo's laptop.  I don't have a device that's connected to the Internet by any other means (my phone is one step up from the stupidest kind of phone you can get - no fancy features that allow me to get online; and, my ancient, 1st-gen. iPad doesn't have 3G or whatever people use, these days . . . basically, we're tech cheapskates) so until we get the problem resolved there won't be any posts.  We've got a technician coming this afternoon so hopefully they'll get us back up and running, soon. 

©2014 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.