“As the crows fly / and the rivers flow, / As the eagles cry / and the winds blow,” begins this soothing bedtime book by Lesléa Newman, author of the classic Heather Has Two Mommies (and more than 70 other books). Gentle rhymes tell of animal parents and offspring, both wild and domestic, going about their lives and eventually settling in to sleep, as the Earth, moon, and stars continue their movements around them. Newman, who was poet laureate of Northampton, Massachusetts from 2008–2010, crafts her phrases carefully, with an ear for rhyme, rhythm, and alliteration.
Morley gradually shifts the colors on each lush and vibrant page towards darker blues and purples as night settles in. On the last page, we see a neighborhood of human parents and children, light glowing warmly from their windows, and read, “As the stars gleam / high above, / the babies dream / safe in our love.”
The families portrayed include two with a mom and a dad, one with two moms, one with two dads, and one with a single mother. The two-mom family appears to be Black, the others White or Latinx. A dad in one family wears a kippah/yarmulke, indicating the family is Jewish. This soothing book is bound to become a beloved bedtime read for many families.
