Monday, October 22, 2012

Children's Books Take Five: A Hush Baby Comparison

When I first had Sofia, I had so much trouble thinking of anything to sing her. I was far enough away from my childhood or my baby-sitting days for any lullaby's to be front of mind. So when someone gifted us with a board book of Hush Little Baby I breathed a big sigh of relief and then said, "duh!"

And then I read the book a time or two, and realized how it models this parenting approach of materialism. The Papa spends the whole song trying to buy lots of presents to keep a baby from crying. Fresh out of my baby-registry craziness, I was feeling like that philosophy had already been sufficiently thrown in my face by all the baby stores of the world. And none of these supposedly fool proof sleep-toys did a thing to soothe my own baby. I kept thinking, "someone should really re-write the words to this song!"

Turns out, someone did! Nearly a decade before I had the thought. Way to go Sylvia Long! I saw this new version of Hush Little Baby in my mother-in-law's children's book collection [she's been preparing for grand-babies with great excitement for a while!]. These new lyrics portray such a sweet, patient, nature-inspired relationship between a mother and child. The illustrations are also beautiful, just as Sylvia's other books. I was so thrilled by this book that I stole it from my mother-in-law (with permission) and brought it home with us.

 

And yet, as much as I prefer the message of the above Hush Baby, the illustrations of the original board book we had seem to be far and away Sofia's preference. The illustrations do feel clever, I must admit. And in fact, I appreciate that in these illustrations, it is not just one mama comforting the child. The baby looks to be much more of a terror than the "blue hush baby," as Sofia calls it. This baby is really screaming his head off. But his WHOLE family, big sister included, is there working to the brink of utter exhaustion to help calm and comfort him. The story told through those pictures, of all that family does for that baby, make the last line "you'll still be the sweetest baby in town" so much more sweet. They communicate, "no matter how crazy you make me, I will still love you." The pictures almost overwhelm the materialistic message of the song. Good work, Marla Frazee!


So, torn between good aspects of each, we hardly ever read one without also reading the other. 

P.S. The other Sylvia Long book we own and enjoy is Ten Little Rabbits, a sweet counting rhyme with beautiful Native American style.

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