Woodland Dreams
Author: Karen Jameson
Illustrator: Marc Boutavant
Chronicle Books
Ages 3-5
This was such a peaceful, calm invitation to go lay down, it immediately made me want to take a snooze. Jameson’s lyrical book follows a little White girl and her dog as she wanders the forest, observing, documenting, and drawing the woodland creatures as they get called to slumber. The animals are unnamed in the book, allowing children to identify them by the pictures or descriptions. Starting with a bear:
“Come home, Big Paws.
Berry picker
Honey trickster
Shadows deepen in the glen.
Lumber back inside your den.”
The same cadence and pattern follows through the book. As the book progresses, the creatures get increasingly smaller, the shadows deepen, a gentle snow starts to fall, and the little girl’s hood goes up. The book culminates in the little girl arriving at a cottage and being greeted by her own adult – a bearded man waving her in:
“This way, Small Boots. / Brave trailblazer / Bright stargazer / Cabin’s toasty. Blanket’s soft. / Snuggle deep in sleeping loft.”
Boutavant’s illustrations are spectacular. I actually think prints of his illustrations would make incredible art for a child’s room, especially accompanied by Jameson’s soporific, melodious words.
Be warned, this book may beakon both reader and child into a peaceful slumber.
“Every creature’s tucked in tight. / Woodland dreams swirl ‘round tonight.
Woodland Dreams (Support an Independent Bookstore)
Woodland Dreams (Amazon)*
More books for this Age Group can be found here.
My thanks to Chronicle Books for providing a Review Copy of this book. All opinions provided herein are my own.
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