QUIET! SHHH! The Baby's Asleep by JaNay Brown-Woods

NOW DON'T MAKE A PEEP....

THE BABY'S ASLEEP!

Mom creeps out of the room on the quietest of feet, worrying that the slight creak of the floor will wake the baby, who is finally asleep!!

But there's a whole big family downstairs, each one with his or her own noise potential.

Daddy's hungry stomach rumbles and Granny's washing swishes, and Pop Pop's big ACHOOS might end Baby's snooze! Sister Shae's hair dryer's whir gets shushed, as well as Dante's little hammer and Rover's howls.

Now what's that loud noise from next door?

MR. YOUNG'S MOWER ROARS!

UH OH! WAAAHHHHHH!

That does it! The baby is awake and bawling. Then big brother has an idea.

"YOU KNOW, WHAT WE NEED IS A GOOD BOOK TO READ!"

And brother Dante is at least partly right. Daddy reads and Baby loves the book, while the rest of the family slip into sleep, in JaNay Brown-Woods' brand-new picture book, Shhh! The Baby's Asleep (Charlesbridge Press, 2021).

With clever rhyming couplets with plenty of onomatopoeic words just right for read-aloud fun, and with artist Elissabura's bright caricatures of a multigenerational family and colored lettering that tracks the sounds through the not-quite-quiet house, this is a fine story for all the families who have ever been hushed or shushed while baby sleeps, or not. Says Kirkus, "Delightful comic relief for every household with a baby."

A Photo-Friendly Family? The Worm Family Has Its Picture Taken by Jennifer Frank

MRS. WORM LAY AT THE TOP OF A GIANT DIRT PILE, WATCHING HER CHILDREN PLAY.

SHE HOPED SHE'D ALWAYS REMEMBER HOW SQUIRMY, SLIMY, AND CUTE THEY WERE AT THIS AGE.

Suddenly Mrs. Worm has an idea. She calls a photographer, Mr. Muskrat, and makes an appointment for a family photo!

Her oldest daughter Emma Worm can't wait to tell her BFF, Ellie Chipmunk. Ellie's family has a lovely group photo, all with dazzling, big smiles! Sadly, Emma realizes that her family picture will be bereft of bright, toothy smiles.

WORMS DON'T HAVE TEETH!

Her friend Abigail Cat just has to brag about her day at the beauty salon getting her fur all foofy-foofy for her portrait.

Not an option for the Worm family, thinks Emma.

And her buddy Olivia Butterfly can't help boasting about the rainbow of colors her family flaunt in their photo. Emma realizes that that the grayish-brown of her family is not going to amaze and delight any viewer's eyes. She frets all night.

HOW WAS HER FAMILY GOING TO MAKE THEIR PORTRAIT SPECIAL?

WAIT! They can rent costumes! And what fun all the Worms have trying on fake teeth, hats, wigs, and snazzy clothes! What a family photo this is going to be!

But when they arrive at the photography studio, Mr. Muskrat stops them at the door, claiming that his next appointment is with the Worm family. And Worms do not have teeth. Or hair. Or wild colors. He's right, the Worms all agree. But we all can do one thing really well.

They can spell! And they wiggle and curl and squirm into a clever cursive pose that spells...

CHEERS

All families are different in their own particular ways, in Jennifer Frank's just published, The Worm Family Has Its Picture Taken (Anne Schwarz Books, 2021), in a story that spoofs the competition between families while affirming the unique qualities that each family has. Two-time Caldecott Award-winning artist David Ezra Stein struts his comic illustrative gifts in multimedia drawings that will have kids rolling in the aisles at this one, while perhaps appreciating their own families' quirks and perks. Says Publishers Weekly, "A terrific pairing of new and veteran talent, as well as a gentle but firm nudge for any child who’s felt the pang of familial embarrassment.”

Always There: Love and the Rocking Chair by Leo and Diane Dillon

Many years ago, a young couple stood in a sea of chairs, searching for just the right one.

"Look at that chair over there. It's perfect for the baby's room!" the young woman said.

And just a few days afterward, the young couple's baby arrived, and the young mother rocked him in the chair and sang songs until he slept. And when he was a bit older, his father read stories while he rocked him before bedtime. Then, as he grew bigger, the boy pretended that the rocking chair was a galloping horse crossing the wild prairie.

But as the baby became a boy, the chair gradually filled with outgrown toys and books, all forgotten as he found new games with his friends. All too soon, the boy becomes a young man, off to college and new friends.

The chair was moved to the attic. Sometimes the young man came home to visit. But the rocker was forgotten, gathering dust. Years went by.

The father grew older. One day the young man came back. His father had died, and he came to comfort his mother.

But on a happier day the young man returned to introduce his mother to the young woman he wanted to marry, and not so long after they moved in with his mother because they were expecting a baby. Then the young man remembered the chair.

"I'll go get it!" he said. He lovingly dusted it off and placed it back where it belonged.

And one day author-illustrator Diane Dillon lovingly dusted off and completed the book she and her late husband Leo Dillon had begun years before, along with the re-purposed rocking chair that is the symbol of enduring family love as it is passed along to yet another generation. Author-illustrators Leo and Diane Dillon, winners of two Caldecott Awards and many others, fortunately kept their original manuscript to be reborn as Love and the Rocking Chair Blue Sky Press, 2019), passed along for another generation of their family and for other families to enjoy. For new parents, it is a gift that remains after the new onesies have become too snug and the push toys are outgrown, Booklist says, "Endearing, sentimental, and drawn in the distinctive style of the authors, this story will find an audience for those looking for narratives about generational legacies."

Leo and Dianne Dillon's memorable Caldecott Award winners are Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears: A West African Tale and Ashanti to Zulu: African Traditions (Picture Puffin Books).

Sunshine On My Shoulders! Layla's Happiness by Mariahadessa Ekere Tallie

MY NAME IS LAYLA.

LAYLA MEANS NIGHT BEAUTY AND I LOVE THE NIGHT.

But this exuberant girl loves a lot of things--the moon, climbing a tree, wearing purple, Dad's stories about childhood in South Carolina, or Mom's poetry.

Layla has enough "favorite things" to write her own song, and she has a favorite thing to do in her favorite place, too.

HAPPINESS IS PLANTING A TOMATO SEED AND WATCHING IT GROW IN THE COMMUNITY GARDEN.

There Layla can chase her friend and catch a ladybug on her finger. She can feed chickens and pick vegetables for the farmer's market. But there are also other favorite places and things....

WHEN THE SEA REACHES INTO HER POCKET

TO GIVE ME A SAND DOLLAR....

What's not to like in Layla's life?

How do children grow? They grow with plenty of things to love in their lives, family stories, friends to confide in, and a community that brings them joy.

In Mariahadessa Tallie's new picture book, Layla's Happiness (Enchanted Lion Books, 2019), an effervescent heroine helps readers think about what makes them happy in their lives--sights and sounds, friends and family and favorite foods, and all those ordinary and extraordinary things that bring pleasure to each day. This is a good book to motivate classroom writing and a joyful meditation on life's little joys for all of us, and artist Ashleigh Corrin's lighthearted illustrations are filled with sunlight and an airy inspiration that can bring light to anyone's day.