bedtime story

Review of Two Little Trains

By tyroneslothrop on 5/4/10 7:38pm
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Children often quickly come to understand how confusing that moment between awake and asleep can really be. Sadly, it is often the case that they find out the difference between dreams and the real world the hard way: by waking up, sweat drenched, from a terrible nightmare. But if a parent thinks ahead, they can get their child to think about that line between asleep and awake, or that hazy line between make believe and real. How, you may ask? By reading Two Little Trains, by Margaret Wise Brown with illustrations by Leo and Diane Dillon.

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Review of Goodnight Moon

By tyroneslothrop on 5/4/10 5:00pm
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All adults really need to hear is, “In the great green room, there was a telephone, and a red balloon, and a picture of—…” Chances are, they will remember Goodnight Moon, by Margaret Wise Brown, and illustrated by Clement Hurd. Treading through childhood memories, they catch a hint of that fabric softener that their mothers used to use especially for their bedding. They remember how much the stars in the windows looked like those designs on grandma’s highball glasses. But most of all, they recall the quiet and peaceful ending that this indispensible story provides.

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I Love the Night

By sarajean on 6/20/09 9:18pm
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hostahostaAll of Dar Hosta’s books are enchanting, but this one is perhaps my personal favorite. With its soothing nighttime story and stunning graphics, it’s no wonder the book was the winner of the Teacher’s Choice Award in 2004.

The story itself is gorgeous enough for older readers, with or without the images; but Hosta’s art is, as ever, enchanting enough for all ages to fall in love with.

Hosta gives a friendly face and a neighborly voice to animals like crickets, spiders and bats—animals that normally may seem strange and scary to little ones. Hosta gives them a calm sort of beauty, and a definite place in our world that we start to feel a reverence for creatures we may have once feared.

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