Sleep Tight Garden Residents

Several weeks ago, marked the arrival of two boxes of materials to construct raised-garden beds.  Yesterday an order for twenty bags of soil was sent.  Packets of seeds are waiting for the right combination of warmth and water for planting.  Centuries of practice dictate it will soon be time for personal, community and large-scale gardeners, farmers, to begin their work.

Gardening is a partnership between humans and Mother Nature involving hard work and respect.  Goodnight, Veggies (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, March 10, 2020) written by Diane Murray with illustrations by Zachariah OHora is a lovely, loving lullaby to edibles and their efforts.  From beginning to end, readers will feel their appreciation for produce expanding as each word and image fashions a comforting, cheerful harmony.

Sunset in the garden.

Robins watch from a nest as a sole gardener tends to a community garden.  One by one the individual vegetables are visited and observed as evening descends.  Below the dirt turnips and potatoes get ready to rest.

Tomatoes, eyes closing in fatigue, quietly murmur a melody.  Cocooned in leaves, cauliflowers snuggle as nearby neighbors sag with weariness.  Storytime begins in the rhubarb patch as broccoli and baby plants listen.

Teeny, tiny eggplants, new to the world, dream dreams of travel.  Where will they go?  Other scrumptious roots relax.  Cabbage, celery and corn are eager to doze.  (Some need to sleep more than others.)

As moonlight shimmers and stars sparkle, the vegetables cozy in their beds slumber.  If we happen to tiptoe past, we will see why this pause has purpose.  Can you surmise?


This lilting bedtime poem written by Diana Murray is certain to soothe readers of all ages.  The use of descriptive alliteration and rhyming words at phrase endings is certain to have you humming if not singing a song softly aloud.  The array of vegetables will have you reaching for the nearest seed catalog as soon as possible.  Here is a passage.

Turnips tucked in tightly.
Potatoes closing eyes.

Tuckered-out tomatoes
humming lullabies.


When you open the dust jacket the cross-section of vegetables in repose spreads over the spine to the back edge.  Another sleeping turnip and dozing carrot are featured on the back.  The smiling, dapper worm wearing a cap and single shoe on the front is a showcased extra in the garden throughout the book.  The color palette is eye-catching and engaging.

On a white canvas a variety of veggies are highlighted on the book case.  From the back to the front thirteen are shown, smiling.  Each one is labeled.  On the front the worm stands in the lower, right-hand corner.  By him words read:

What will
you grow in 
YOUR
garden?

A bright, cross-hatched design in turquoise covers the opening and closing endpapers.  On the title page in a charming display, the worm is reclining on a striped sun lounger underneath a trio of poles entwined in vines of peas.  Each image is rendered

with 100% vegetarian printmaking and acrylic paint.

Each double-page picture is an illustrative, interpretive joy.  Illustrator Zachariah OHora presents shifting perspectives, as well as, combining different points of view in a single visual.  In the first scene we see an adult and child sitting on steps on the street below as the sun sets.  As our eyes move to the right, solar panels on a roof capture heat as a woman waters plants in the rooftop garden.  Alongside the building is a large tree, home to a robin's nest.  In the next image we zoom closer to the tree, as our worm adventurer and guide hops from the tree to the garden.  We continually move closer and closer to the vegetables.

The vegetables are happily winding down a day of growing with smiles and drowsy eyes.  Rocks and roots are shown underground as a tiny yellow butterfly flutters above them.  Bees are busy as tiny blossoms bloom.  The final illustration of the worm in his home is priceless.  The matte-finished paper is perfect for these pictures by providing and increasing texture.

One of my many, many favorite illustrations is of the cauliflowers and peas.  The bottom half of the picture is a look at the ground below the surface.  The pathway of the worm cuts through the dirt across and up as he pops out for a look at the peas on the right.  Roots of the cauliflowers on the left and peas on the right stretch down.  A larger cauliflower embraces a smaller one with a curled leaf.  Two bees fly from the cauliflowers.  The peas in their pods hang down from a tripod made of sturdy sticks.


In spreading a sense of calm to readers Goodnight, Veggies written by Diana Murray with illustrations by Zachariah OHora, we also take a delicious, delightful journey through a garden.  This book is an excellent addition to the bedtime collection of books and is certain to inspire gardening.  I highly recommend it for your personal and professional collections. 

You might want to include this title with Bedtime for Sweet Creatures, Just Because, Sleep Train, Good Day, Good Night, The Perfect Siesta, All ears, all eyes, It Is Not Time For Sleeping: (A Bedtime Story), The Moon's Almost Here, Goodnight Everyone, or Cricket Song. You might like to use books contained in Sweet Dreams Picture Book August 10 for 10.  Hoping you will all maintain a sense of peace.

To learn more about Diana Murray and Zachariah OHora, please follow the links attached to their names to access their respective websites.  Diana Murray has accounts on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and Twitter.  Zachariah OHora has accounts on Instagram, Tumblr and Twitter.

Seasonal Views And Hues

This year in the northern hemisphere on September 22 summer will come to a close.  The daylight hours are already shortening but during those minutes the world around us is bursting with color in every hue imaginable.  The blend of shadow and the height of the sun give us breathtaking beauty.

We wake to filtered sunrise rays peeking through trees, bushes and flowers giving them a golden glow.  Cloud cover alters every instance.  Wind works a special wonder.  Summer Color! (Little, Brown And Company, May 15, 2018) written by Diana Murray with illustrations by Zoe Persico takes us on a tour of a summer day shared by siblings and their family.

The hot summer sun lights the sky like a torch
as folks fan themselves on the shady back porch.

With this opening sentence we see the first hue of the day---yellow.  It shines on the sunflowers.  As parents and cousins join the duo ice cold sweet treats on a stick are shared.  Their vibrancy shines with a primary color.

Brother and sister run fast past familiar places until they realize the day has darkened.  Clouds swell turning a stormy gray.  All the animals in the field hurry toward the safety of the green woods.  As the rain falls everything starts to shimmer.  Brights are brighter.

The companions traverse farther into the forest, seeking a cool sheet of white water tumbling to a pond.  Making their way home past the lake with people seeking shelter beneath blankets of purple and past meadow mice tucked in their cozy abode, they run to their door.

Soaked through and through, they cuddle under the warmth of orange towels noticing the color of the fence and shed in their backyard.  As suddenly as it arrived, the disturbance disappears.  The leftover droplets cast a silvery sheen.  The children run outside looking at the clear blue of the sky only to find an arching surprise.


Listening and reading children alike will find themselves caught in the cadence of the words written by Diana Murray.  Twelve vivid hues are spotlighted in rhyming couplets (and other poetic techniques such as alliteration), each focusing on an action; everything and everyone is in motion.  Diana Murray's descriptions of place and time entice us to recall similar experiences or to create new adventures in the near future.  Here are two couplets.

Splashing and splattering, streak after streak,
the rain soaks the earth and sweeps over the creek,
where frogs start to croak and the water snakes slink,
and wildflowers glisten with petals so pink.


Using an F & G (looking forward to having my own copy of the book), the dust jacket unfolds to display a green hill topped with the children's home, a field of flowers spreads from flap edge to flap edge.  The blue summer sky holds places for fluffy white clouds, the warm yellow sun and a cardinal gliding on the breeze in the far left upper corner.  On the opening and closing endpapers a fun-filled meadow scene is shown. (In the back these endpapers also display the dedication and publication information.)

A fox calmly watches eleven white mice and nine blue-green frogs frolic on and off the pages.  Eight snails slide across the right corner.  A variety of flowers and mushrooms grow in clusters.  Two of those snails move across a meadow with brown farm fencing on the two-page picture for the title page.  In each corner we are given a close-up view of flowers.

Rendered by Zoe Persico using traditional-art-inspired digital brushes and media the illustrations radiate from every page, blissfully conveying the magic of a summer day.  Each two-page picture feels as though it's in motion, frozen only for a moment until we can jump in and join the characters.  The facial features on the humans are those of contentment and happiness.  Even in the animals there is a sense of harmony.

One of my many favorite illustrations is a close-up of the children running from stone to stone across the creek as the rain begins in earnest.  They are moving from left to right on the left side.  All we can see are their sneakers, legs, a pair of shorts, a skirt and the bottom portion of their shirts.  The girl's hands and arms move in motion with her legs.  Pink land and water flowers dot the image.  A snake glides toward the left side of the page.  A brilliant green frog watches from a rock on the right.  We can see the rain drops streaking downward.


You'll want to use this title, Summer Color! written by Diana Murray with illustrations by Zoe Persico, for your seasonal story times as a charming introduction to all that can be seen in a single summer day. It can also be used with a unit on weather and for any theme involving the concept of color.  Children (and children at heart) will be attracted to the gentle but energetic beat of the words and the spirited illustrations.  It would be wonderful to have this title on your professional and personal bookshelves.

To learn more about Diana Murray and Zoe Persico and their other work, please follow the links attached to their names to access their websites.  Both Diana and Zoe are on Twitter. Diana has an account on Pinterest.  Zoe has Tumblr pages and an Instagram account.  Both of them are interviewed by writer and illustrator Jena Benton about this book on her blog.  Enjoy the trailer.