The Bedtime Rhyme - Hardcover

Walter Wangerin Jr.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0806637013 ISBN 13: 9780806637013

Publisher: Augsburg Fortress Pub, 1998

Synopsis

A parent eases a child's nighttime concerns by promising a series of loving and heroic deeds and speaking of a kind, wise, loving God

About this title

About the Author

The Author: Wangerin, Walter Jr., is a nationally know storyteller and the bestselling author of books for children and adults, including Probity Jones and the Fear Not Angel (a Publisher's Weekly "Best Book of the Year"), In the Beginning There Was No Sky, and The Book of God. Wangerin lives with his wife in Valparaiso, Indiana.

The Illustrator: Benrei Huang has illustrated more than twenty-five books for children, including What Can a Giant Do?, One Hundred Is a Family, and Mr. Pak Bags a Story. Her books have been listed among "Best Children's Books" by the Los Angeles Times Book Review and included on the "American Booksellers Pick of the List." She lives with her husband and young son in New York City.

From the Back Cover

"I loved it. The most beautiful thing Walt has done." ---Maurice Sendak

"Oh, please, why must I be too old for someone to read this dear rhyme at my bedtime? Walt Wangerin's flight of fancy is full of love, and that is what the listener cannot help but hear." ---Jan Karon author of Miss Fannie's Hat and The Mitford Years series

"I very much enjoyed it. Any child who gets this read to them will feel safe and protected." ---Janell Cannon author and illustrator of Stellaluna

Reviews

PreSchool-Grade 1-It is difficult to determine the purpose or audience for this disturbing, bizarre book. A mother answers her son's questions about how much she loves him by describing how she would rescue him from ominous threats-robbers, monsters, and menacing stars and owls. She concludes by telling him that he is in God's "safekeeping" for "...God loves you,/even better than I." The bouncy rhythm may amuse some children but, overall, the text is filled with uneven rhyme, awkward phrasing, peculiar images, and vocabulary beyond many young children's understanding. Also, ideas of menacing figures entering a child's bedroom won't provide needed comfort, even if the child is ultimately rescued. The final message that "God loves you best of all" is a complex idea for young children who need a more concrete sense of security. The illustrations make effective use of soft colors, shading, and light to create a sense of the story; however, the images of a frightened child and shadowy villainous figures won't inspire sweet dreams. Barbara Joosse's Mama, Do You Love Me? (Chronicle, 1991), Sam McBratney's Guess How Much I Love You (Candlewick, 1995), and Margaret Wise Brown's Runaway Bunny (HarperCollins, 1942) are far better choices of literary lullabies.
Heide Piehler, Shorewood Public Library, WI
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

In a series of rhymes, Wangerin (Probity Jones and the Fear Not Angel) dispels a child's fear of the dark by teaching the lessons of God's love and presence. As the rhymes begin, a mother responds to her son's question: "How much do I love you?/ Lay down your head,/ My gingerbread,/ And listen: I'll tell you." She elaborates by telling him that if robbers should come into the room, "I'd clobber those robbers/ Until they slobbered/ And all their teeth decayed." If her son is threatened by monsters, "I'd grab my reaper,/ My vacuum sweeper,/ And suck those monsters down!" After she reassures him that she will protect him against all things, the mother then tells her son, "Here in your room/ All night while you're sleeping,/ Kinder and wiser/ And best for safekeeping/ Is God." Huang's illustrations capture the wildness of the child's imagination and provide just the right background for Wangerin's humorous rhymes. Ages 5-8.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

"Are you my strongest? Are you my smartest? Are you my baby true?

Are you may laughingest, Loudest and lastingest Friend? Oh, I love you.

I love your eyes Like fireflies; I love your ears Like boutonnieres; I love your back, Your bones in a sack; I love your cheeks And all your teeths, Your nose and toes and tongue and such---

How much, my honeydew? How much do I love you?

Lay down your head, My gingerbread, And listen: I'll tell you!"

Edition details

• Publisher: Augsburg Fortress Pub
• Publication date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0806637013
• ISBN 13: 9780806637013
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Benrei Huang
• Number of pages: 32