Sleep, Baby, Sleep: Lullabies and Night Poems

by Michael Hague

A popular artist offers glowing illustrations of favorite night poems and lullabies from such authors as Robert Louis Stevenson, Nikki Giovanni, and William Blake, along with many traditional works, and includes simple melodies for guitar or piano.

Genres: Picture Books

80 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 1994

About the author

Michael Hague is renowned as the illustrator of many children's classics, including editions of The Wizard Of Oz, Peter Pan, The Hobbit, and The Velveteen Rabbit. He also illustrated The Book of Ghosts, Where Fairies Dance, The Book of Wizards, and The Book of Fairy Poetry as well as wrote and illustrated the graphic novel in The Small. Michael lives with his wife, Kathleen, in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Reviews

[Tami Hawkins · Rating 1 out of 5]

Most of the poems and lullabies are not ones I’d share or read again. I was looking for something else.

[Kathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book we have had for years and I love it! It is full of soothing lullabies and bedtime poems. In the back of the book is all the music for the lullabies. The illustrations are really nice as well. I guess I have a soft spot for this book because it used to put Gabe (13 now) to sleep every night when I read it to him. The other night as I read it to Noah (2) he fell asleep too. I really like most of the poems in there. Here are a couple of my favorites:

The White Seal's Lullaby

Oh! hush thee, my baby, the night is behind us,
And black are the waters that sparkled so green.
The moon, o'er the combers, looks downward to find us
At rest in the hollows that rustle between.
Where billow meets billow, there soft be thy pillow,
Oh, weary wee flipperling, curl at thy ease!
The storm shall not wake thee, nor shark overtake thee,
Asleep in the arms of the slow-swinging seas.

Rudyard Kipling

Lullaby

Cat's in the alley
Flower's in the pot
Moon's in the sky and
Baby's in the cot

Tree and the lamppost
Standing by the door
Big dog is sleeping
On the kitchen floor

Now nighttime is falling
There are shadows all around
Baby's gonna sleep
Till the sun shines down

Mama and Papa
Are standing by your bed
Sweet dreams are coming
To fill your sleepy head

John Plotz