August 1, 2024
K-Gr 3-There are many picture books with a bedtime theme, but this one stands out because of the diverse settings and Chan's beautifully painted illustrations. The book begins with a child looking out a window at the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. Poetic text and onomatopoeia take readers through different night scenes-a hooting owl on a farm, the whispering aspen leaves heard from inside a tent in a forest, train tracks in a city, and a music box in a child's bedroom. The book ends back at the Golden Gate Bridge with the child now asleep. Chan's painted pictures capture each setting with soft brush strokes and muted colors. Characters are diverse with different hair and skin tones. Young readers will be able to connect to many of the different sounds and settings depicted. VERDICT A perfect, calming story for afternoon story hours, or to fill out curricula on the experience of night across various locations. -Heidi Dechief
Copyright 2024 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
September 1, 2024
Who says bedtime must be quiet? Not the pale-skinned young narrator of this noisy nighttime story. Gazing out the window at the nearby Golden Gate Bridge, the child soon falls asleep to the sounds of the foghorn. Readers are asked what sounds help them nod off; the narrator offers a litany of suggestions--sounds that can be heard in urban, suburban, rural, and even woodland settings. Many will be warmly familiar, like those that emanate from the comfort of kids' own homes: a purring cat, a ticking clock, the tinkling of a music box, a brother's soft breathing. Are there sounds more deliciously comforting than Grandma telling a story, a mother singing a lullaby, or a father "gently playing his guitar"? Even more enticing, all the noises the narrator mentions are accompanied by onomatopoeic "sound bites" set in black boldfaced type that playfully cavort on each double-page spread. If children haven't heard these "goodnight sounds" before, they'll be eager to and will gleefully stay awake to mimic them; they'll likely have favorites. Finally, the narrator concludes, "the sounds of night are your lullaby"--whatever they are--and assures readers that they'll soon fall asleep. The colorful and warm digital illustrations are soothing. Background characters are diverse in terms of age and race. Winning bedtime fare.(Picture book. 4-7)
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August 12, 2024
Sounds soothe when it’s time to drift off in this sleep aid, a sensory-based picture book. “What sound helps you fall asleep?” an opening prompt probes as Miller’s text proposes a range of onomatopoeiaic place-based phrases. These include foghorns bellowing beneath the Golden Gate Bridge, the hooting of an owl, the quaking of leaves, and the trickle of a mountain stream, among others. Jing Chan’s carefully lit digital nightscapes draw on dusty purples and blues throughout unlined renderings of the myriad dwellings and figures who play audience to the featured noises. Closing examples zero in on the domestic, highlighting “Grandma’s voice telling you a story” and “the purring of your cat/ curled up in a cozy ball.” The steady layering of echoic sounds succeeds in achieving a soporific effect. Characters are portrayed with various skin tones. Ages 2–5.