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Summary
Summary
Inspired by one of our most popular children's lullabies, Caldecott Medalist Jerry Pinkney's gentle world -- where the loving arms of nature embrace us despite darkness or uncertainty -- is perfect for easing little ones into dreamland.
Here is the perfect gift and essential item for every child's first library! One of the most acclaimed children's book illustrators of our time now takes his legendary skill with watercolor to new heights in this lavish visual adventure. As a curious little chipmunk leaves his nest to greet the twilight, he gazes at the glittering sky above him. He can't help but also notice the sparkling dewdrops on a spider's web, the lights of the fireflies, and the shimmers of moonlight on the water. "How I wonder what you are!" marvels the tiny creature, launching a dreamlike quest to reach for the stars.
Don't miss these other classic retellings by Jerry Pinkney:
The Little Mermaid
The Lion & the Mouse
The Tortoise & the Hare
The Grasshopper & the Ants
The Three Billy Goats Gruff
Little Red Riding Hood
Author Notes
Jerry Pinkney was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on December 22, 1939. He began drawing as a four-year-old child, studied commercial art at the Dobbins Vocational School, and received a full scholarship to the Philadelphia Museum College of Art. After graduating, Pinkney worked in design and illustrations, helped found Kaleidoscope Studios, and later opened the Jerry Pinkney Studio.
His is a children's book illustrator and has created the art for over one hundred titles including Julius Lester's John Henry, Sam and the Tigers, and The Old African, plus adaptations of Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Match Girl and The Nightingale. He has won numerous awards including six Caldecott Honor Medals, five Coretta Scott King Awards, four Coretta Scott King Honor Awards, four New York Times Best Illustrated Book awards, and the Hamilton King Award. He also received the Virginia Hamilton Literary award from Kent State University in 2000, the University of Southern Mississippi Medallion in 2004, the Original Art's Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society of Illustrators in 2006, Laura Ingalls Wilder Award in 2016, and the Coretta Scott King -Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2016.
In addition to holding numerous one-man retrospectives and exhibiting his work in more than one hundred international group shows, Pinkney's art resides in the permanent collections of the Library of Congress, the New York Public Library, the Delaware Art Museum, and the Brandywine River Art Museum. He has taught art at the Pratt Institute, the University of Delaware, and the University of Buffalo.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (6)
School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 1-In his latest re-imagining of a childhood classic, Pinkney focuses on the wonderment of a chipmunk. The endpapers, which open at sunrise and conclude with starlight, signal the time frame. The inquisitive creature's quest to understand both what and where stars are (verses alternate at appropriate junctures) begins from the safety of his cozy nest. As time passes he discovers the shape in natural phenomena ranging from star-imprinted morning glories and the dew on a spider web to flickering fireflies and the gleam in a swan's eye. His actions become progressively more daring: seeing a robin's nest in the tree, he ascends. The home subtly transforms into a boat, he into a sailor, soaring through the heavens, borne on the breath of an animated wind, then gently deposited on a water lily for a final adventure. Employing pencil, watercolor, and colored pencil, the artist skillfully captures the chipmunk in a host of poses and expressions, building a character worthy of visiting again and again. An opulent blue winds through Pinkney's dazzling compositions, providing depth, unity, and pure pleasure. This world is so full of interest that scenes break the frames of small panels and full bleeds until the conclusion, when circular compositions provide security. Nods to other lullabies, a subplot, and music are smoothly incorporated. Illuminating notes discuss how the notion of a lullaby serving as a bridge from a child's safe haven to the unknown dream world inform Pinkney's telling. A stellar performance from a book-making virtuoso.-Wendy Lukehart, Washington DC Public Library (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Caldecott Medalist Pinkney (The Lion & the Mouse) taps into the curiosity and wonderment that define this nursery rhyme, following a chipmunk's travels by day and night. Though four verses of the song are included along with the refrain, many of the spreads are wordless, leaving readers to decipher the inquisitive chipmunk's wanderings. Rendered in pencil, watercolor, and colored pencil, Pinkney's lush artwork is simultaneously naturalistic and whimsical. Like Mary Lyn Ray and Marla Frazee's Stars, also out this fall, Pinkney takes poetic license with regard to what constitutes a "star"-morning glories, spider webs, fireflies, and water lilies all take on astral qualities. After climbing into a bird's nest (a nod to "Rock-a-Bye, Baby," per Pinkney's artist's note) that transforms into a boat, the chipmunk, now wearing a sailor suit, sails into the darkening sky in a dreamlike journey that later has him tumbling into a pond and being rescued by a swan. Pinkney's flora and fauna are exquisite, as is his palette, dominated by rich earth tones and brilliant blues. Soothing and magical, this one should conjure some sweet dreams. Up to age 3. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Horn Book Review
A curious chipmunk follows an object "like a diamond in the sky" up to a nest, over some water, and, lofted by the wind, close to the moon. The wonderstruck creature splashes down in a pond and is rescued by a swan before finally making its way home. "Twinkle, Twinkle" lyrics are interspersed unobtrusively throughout the lush, warm, mostly wordless spreads. (c) Copyright 2012. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
The Lion and the Mouse (2009). Seamlessly tweaking a later version of the multi-verse 1806 original with minor changes in wording and repeated insertions of the first two lines as a chorus, the illustrator follows a furry traveler--who is often posed as if in song--through verdant tangles of dandelions and other flowers, up a tree and into an empty robin's nest. With a turn of the page, that nest is transformed into a small boat (and the chipmunk acquires a sailor suit) that sails into the starry sky. The adventure briefly takes on an anxious cast when a gust topples the tiny explorer into a pond of much larger fish and other creatures, but a swan glides to the rescue and gently wings its little passenger up to the smiling Moon. Rendering natural details with typical accuracy, Pinkney fills his intimate watercolor close-ups with rippling leaves and rhythmic shifts of color that simultaneously create a feeling of active, if dreamlike energy while echoing the poem's quiet cadences. He intersperses wordless interludes, either single pictures or short sequences, to create a unified story line and finishes with a final view of the dreamer curled up (still in that sailor suit) on a bed of soft leaves and down. Just another superb outing from a fixed star twinkling in the children's-literature firmament. (afterword) (Picture book. 3-6)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
*Starred Review* The song Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star provides lines of text for this imaginative picture book, in which a little chipmunk emerges from the safety of its burrow to discover the natural world. Since the story begins in daylight, the first starlike sights seen are white blossoms, dandelion fluffs, and drops of water on a spider's web. As night falls, the chipmunk climbs into a birds' nest that transforms into a little boat and sails into the night sky. The final picture shows the chipmunk at home asleep. From cover to endpapers, every element in the book contributes to the dreamlike vision of a curious adventurer exploring the natural world. This appropriate theme for young children finds expression in a series of vividly imagined, gracefully composed, and beautifully detailed illustrations, created using pencil, watercolors, and colored pencils. While the appended artist's note states that the lyrics were selected from public-domain versions of the song, Jane Taylor, who in 1806 published most of the lyrics used here, is mentioned only in the book's Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication data. Inspired by the familiar song but not limited by literal interpretation, this evocative picture book offers a rewarding reading experience at bedtime, or any time.--Phelan, Carolyn Copyright 2010 Booklist
New York Review of Books Review
Pinkney, who won a Caldecott Medal last year for "The Lion and the Mouse," brings a similar sumptuous, color-saturated aesthetic to this reimagining of the familiar bedtime lullaby, here expanded by a few verses from its most well-known version. A pleasingly expressive chipmunk - why is this rodent's particular cuteness overlooked in children's books? - stars in a free-form journey from woodland to dreamland, traveling at one point in a flying boat. His trajectory is confusing, but children are likely to view it as just another one of night's mysteries. STARS By Mary Lyn Ray. Illustrated by Marla Frazee. 40 pp. Beach Lane Books. $16.99. (Picture book; ages 2 to 6) Does anyone illustrate the facial expressions, postures and movements of children with the same gloriously authentic exuberance as Marla Frazee ("The Seven Silly Eaters," "Everywhere Babies")? Here, a star takes many forms - in the night, on a wand, as a snowflake or in the wilds of a young imagination. Well matched, Ray ("Mud," "Red Rubber Boot Day") grounds her text in the everyday experiences of young children. "A star is how you know it's almost night," she explains. "And the dark that comes doesn't feel so dark." LITTLE OWL'S NIGHT Written and illustrated by Divya Srinivasan. 32 pp. Viking. $16.99. (Picture book; ages 3 to 5) This exceptional first book by Srinivasan, a talented illustrator - her animations can be seen in the film "Waking Life" and her illustrations in The New Yorker - follows Little Owl during his nighttime explorations. How does the night end? Little Owl asks his mama. Little Owl's world, depicted in mossy greens and mushroom browns set dramatically against a black backdrop, is a romantic landscape of fireflies and nocturnal perambulations. Watch out, parents: this bedtime tale may even convert children who are afraid of the dark into adventuresome night owls. THE MAN IN THE MOON Written and illustrated by William Joyce. 56 pp. Atheneum. $17.99. (Picture book; ages 4 to 8) With the aura of an established classic, the first volume in Joyce's long-anticipated series, "The Guardians of Childhood," is worth the wait. And what a brilliant concept! The hero, MiM, or the Man in the Moon, is just the first beloved figure of childhood lore to get his own tale - the Sandman, the Tooth Fairy and Jack Frost are to follow. With lots of detail in its gold-flecked blues, the lavish illustration will set 6-year-old minds ticking, and though the King of Nightmares makes an appearance, this is a story primarily about sweet. MY NAME IS MINA By David Almond. 300 pp. Delacorte Press. $15.99. (Middle grade/young adult; ages 9 to 12) "My name is Mina and I love the night," begins this prequel of sorts to Almond's acclaimed 1998 novel "Skellig"; it tells the story of the neighbor and friend of that earlier book's hero. Wildly imaginative, fantastical, occasionally maddening but mostly engrossing, "My Name Is Mina" is a novel for dark-eyed girls who love nothing better than to scribble furiously in their journals, as Mina often does. The home-schooled and somewhat lonely Mina is a perceptive, fiercely curious, and defiant but sensitive girl who will surely prove a heroine for many. PAMELA PAUL ONLINE A slide show of this week's illustrated books at nytimes.com/books.
