Jumbo's Lullaby

From Publishers Weekly Melmed and Sorensen, previously paired for I Love You as Much, travel to Africa for this verse invitation to sleep. A mother elephant attempts to lull her little one to slumber by describing the other animals' dreams. From yawning ostriches and "lion cubs curled with their mother" to gazelles "settled on a stretch of mossy ground," Melmed ticks off a leisurely list of animals, punctuated with variations on the refrain "Shusha, shusha, little Jumbo." At first realistic, Melmed's images soon launch into flights of fancy: the dreams of lion cubs "turning into tawny hunters/ stalking through the rippling grass" follows with "great gorillas dream they're dancing/ where the blue bananas grow" and zebras "dream themselves in gorgeous colors/ anything but black and white." Sorensen dips his brush in the quieter shades of the SerengetiAmisty gray-blues, ochre, moss greenAfor realistic, nuanced animal portraits that reinforce the underlying theme of mother love. On each facing page, he then embroiders on the text's fantastical elements with scenes of gorillas dancing among discarded blue banana peels sporting flowers behind their ears and zebras with electric combinations of green-and-red or yellow-and-blue stripes. This is bedtime fare with an exotic flair. Ages 2-up. (Sept.) Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. From School Library Journal PreSchool-Grade 3 This lullaby is a wonderful treat for the eyes and ears. Fanciful oil paintings blend with the author's poetic language to convey the love of a mother elephant for her baby, Jumbo, as she tries to lull him to sleep. Other animals of the African savanna such as "Auntie Ostrich" and "Uncle Rhino" are shown in realistic depictions on the versos opposite whimsical portraits of the creatures as they imagine themselves to be in their dreams. "Zebras sleeping in the shadows,/where they're safely out of sight,/dream themselves in gorgeous colors /anything but black and white." The peaceful, hypnotic phrase, "Shusha, shusha, little Jumbo," is repeated throughout. This sure-to-please story is as soft and soothing as a gentle breeze. JoAnn Jonas, New York Public Library Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.