Wynken, Blynken, and books
Can we read? No. 120
Hi there 👋
I’ve got some goodies from the archives for you today. (I have to admit I totally forgot about Bears Make Rock Soup and Other Stories, which I pulled out to read with my own kiddos again because of digging up old these reviews — I adore that book and I’m pleased to share it with you — again — today.)
Also, remember when I mentioned I was serving as a first-round judge for the 2023 CYBILS Awards, on the poetry panel? We finalized our shortlists — five choices for poetry collections, five for novels in verse — and I can’t say enough good things about the titles that made it, nor the work that went into it (it was so fun! and I don’t say that lightly because I find very few things in life truly fun, if I’m being honest). You can check out the judges’ reviews — including mine — here.
Bears Make Rock Soup and Other Stories by Lise Erdrich, illustrated by Lisa Fifield (2002)
How does one read a story collection to the littlest of folks — the ones who can’t sit through any pages without images, the ones who can barely make it through a couple paragraphs? You start small, and this unique and captivating title is the perfect answer to that dilemma.
Erdrich (yes, daughter of super famous Louise, and member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Plains Ojibway) and Fifield (member of the Oneida Tribe of Indians of Wisconsin) have come together here to create a collection of short — very short, 3-5 paragraphs long short — stories about the relationships between people and animals. Sometimes they are pourquoi tales (narratives that explain why something is the way it is, or how things came to be), sometimes they are not, but they are all simple and deeply evocative — conjuring very clear internal images alongside Fifield’s paintings, which would make them perfect to learn and tell without the book, from memory. I haven’t found many excellent collections with stories of such brevity, stories that even toddlers can sit through — so this is a rare title, and a good one at that.
*Note: sometimes Erdrich’s name is spelled “Lisolette” (this is what comes up if you Google this book, for instance) so if you can’t find this title in your library system or bookstore of choice, search using both names.
The Dream Child by David McPhail (1985)
This is my childhood copy of this book, and one of the few stories I remember as a very young little being (though my mother read to me every single night of my life).
This is a dreamy story about a little girl who takes a nighttime journey with her companion, Tame Bear. The poetic, nonsensical lull of McPhail’s prose, along with his characteristically soft and fuzzy illustrations, creates a quiet illusory state, where the duo do things like teach the frogs to sing roosting songs for the chickens, feed a hungry lion baskets of fruit and canned ham, and pull apart the treetops so the moon can shine down.
This title is far more cerebral than any of McPhail’s others, but that’s not a bad thing: the terrain that Dream Child and Tame Bear tread is one of the mind on the cusp of sleep — a lovely, gentle boat trip into the land of nod.
Wynken, Blynken, and Nod by Eugene Field, illustrated by Johanna Westerman (1998)
Wynken, Blynken, and Nod by Eugene Field, illustrated by David McPhail (2009)
I can’t imagine trying to convince anyone that Wynken, Blynken, and Nod is both a stunning poem and an unorthodox moral feat (during a time when children’s poetry was almost exclusively used to indoctrinate young minds to Victorian values), so I’ll just say: it is absolutely worthy of knowing and sharing with your children.
If you’re unfamiliar, the narrative centers on three nighttime adventurers as they travel the sea of the sky (the mixed metaphor here is truly breathtaking) in a wooden shoe, eventually returning home to realize,
“Wynken and Blynken are two little eyes,
And Nod is a little head,
And the wooden shoe that sailed the skies
Is a wee one's trundle-bed…”
Johanna Westerman’s version is the best of the best — her illustrations are vivid, precise, and captivating — but I can’t help loving David McPhail’s version, with its buoyant bright colors and intrepid little rabbits.
Both versions capture the dauntless yet safe, venturesome yet calming spirit of this poem. (I have to use a lot of adverbs — it’s utterly beautiful and I cannot recommend it enough.)
The Stories Julian Tells by Ann Cameron (1981)
The Stories Julian Tells is the first in the eight-book Julian’s World series, a handful of early chapter books that are excellent for reading aloud or handing to a new chapter book reader.
These brief glimpses into the world of Julian, his little brother Huey, and their warm family life are somehow ordinary and magical at the same time. In each story, Cameron presents the reader with an everyday situation — making pudding with their father, looking at a seed catalog while planning their garden, lying under a fig tree in their yard — but adds some sort of twist, often a misunderstanding of a conversation or language, that leads to some funny, goofy outcome.
Julian’s escapades are entertaining and relatable, but what I like best about this book is how Cameron manages to show both his exterior and interior world — a rich and inviting landscape for us all.
In case no one has told you this lately: you’re doing a fantastic job — keep going!
Sarah
I looooove Winked, Blynken and Nod! My mom recently found our old copy from 1985, and now I read it to my son. I had no idea it was so old!
Holy smokes, DREAM CHILD looks like a literal dream 🤩 I need it immediately!