When I was little my mother read to my siblings and I every night before we went to sleep. She was a lover of the written word--still is and was undoubtedly my earliest influence in my love of children's poetry.
One book in particular became a favourite of our family back then called Poems and Prayers for the Very Young. The poems were selected and illustrated by Martha Alexander and published in 1973--a good year!
Our mother memorized, I think, the entire book and recited them as whispers to us, her restless, sleepy kids.
When our three children were little I didn't own the book but remembered many of the whimsical poems and too whispered my kids to sleep.
Here is a cozy favourite from long ago:
Sleepy Song by Arthur Guiterman
Every little nail
Asleep in the wall,
Every little lamb
Asleep in the stall,
Every little flower
Asleep in the dew,
Oh, my little darling,
Go to sleep, too!
Oh, my little darling,
Go to sleep too.
And from a delightful Arnold Lobel book, hand drawn and written as a gift for friends and published posthumously thanks to his daughter Adrienne Lobel who also added watercolour to her father's pencil sketches.
A cheerful little take on knowing and thinking we require more things than we actually do written in the gentle wisdom mode of Lobel characters Frog and Toad:
Night by Arnold Lobel
Two toads sat
Dozing on a rock.
Said one, "I think
We need a clock."
The other said,
"I do agree.
A clock for you
And one for me.
Then when we wake
And there's no light...
We'll always know
That it is night."
Wishing you the gift of a happy heart and a restful night.
Jill
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