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Margaret Wise Brown: The (Golden) Sleepy Book, Goodnight Little One, Little Donkey Close Your Eyes
Interconnected publications; The Whispering Rabbit (posted here) should fall into this group, but, oops, forgot. On one hand, these reillustrations/republications have pushed my willingness to close read to its limit; on the other hand, the relative value of these editions provides so much insight into the role that format & art play in picture books.
There's more MWB that I can dig into, and probably will, but not at present. Her library is so extensive! A worthwhile but exhausting deep dive.
Title: The Sleepy Book aka The Golden Sleepy Book
Author: Margaret Wise Brown
Illustrator: Garth Williams
Published: Golden Books, 1948, 1975
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 25, 50
Total Page Count: 524,475
Text Number: 1911-1912
Read Because: reading the author, borrowed from Open Library
Review: Various bedtime stories, songs, and poems, the contents varying between editions, with some of these longer works published as standalone texts elsewhere, all of which makes this a beast to review. The compact, collected work is convenient and allows for very short work that couldn't stand alone, but lacks the expansive, satisfying, fully illustrated read-along format of a picture book. So The Whispering Rabbit is better as a standalone; but Goodnight Little One aka Little Donkey Close Your Eyes, which can be read as standalones, feel a little slight and this is why: they could also just be two pages in a book of lullabies. The 1975 edition is the more complete, and it's the only place I've seen The Dreaming Bunny, which is worth seeking out, dreamy and beautiful with a message (everyone is "contributing," even if their contributions are unseen or undervalued) that I appreciate.
Title: Goodnight Little One
Author: Margaret Wise Brown
Illustrator: Rebecca Elliott
Published: Parragon, 2012
Rating: 2.5 of 5
Page Count: 30
Total Page Count: 524,505
Text Number: 1913
Read Because: reading the author, borrowed from Open Library
Review: I'm biased against this style of excessively cute, very modern illustration style, but I'm pleasantly surprised to find I don't hate it here. This is a very basic bedtime book, rhythmic, gentle, almost motionless, and the very textured/fluffy art enlivens what could be a vapid cuteness. As noted elsewhere, this story is also in The Sleepy Book aka The Golden Sleepy Book as a two-page spread, which is part of the reason it feels spread thin over 30 pages.
Title: Little Donkey Close Your Eyes
Author: Margaret Wise Brown
Illustrator: Ashley Wolff
Published: Harpercollins Childrens Books, 1995
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 30
Total Page Count: 524,535
Text Number: 1914
Read Because: reading the author, borrowed from Open Library
Review: As noted elsewhere, this story is also in The Sleepy Book aka The Golden Sleepy Book as a two-page spread, which is the reason it feels spread thin over 30 pages. But the illustrations transform this work, doing as much as the text: in vibrant, detailed linocuts with rich back outlines, Wolff creates a distinct sense of place, and the journey from rural farm to nearby jungle to coastal city, with a cast of color, roots this, grounds it, shapes it to bring out the best from MWB's gentle, precise lists. This impressed me.
There's more MWB that I can dig into, and probably will, but not at present. Her library is so extensive! A worthwhile but exhausting deep dive.
Title: The Sleepy Book aka The Golden Sleepy Book
Author: Margaret Wise Brown
Illustrator: Garth Williams
Published: Golden Books, 1948, 1975
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 25, 50
Total Page Count: 524,475
Text Number: 1911-1912
Read Because: reading the author, borrowed from Open Library
Review: Various bedtime stories, songs, and poems, the contents varying between editions, with some of these longer works published as standalone texts elsewhere, all of which makes this a beast to review. The compact, collected work is convenient and allows for very short work that couldn't stand alone, but lacks the expansive, satisfying, fully illustrated read-along format of a picture book. So The Whispering Rabbit is better as a standalone; but Goodnight Little One aka Little Donkey Close Your Eyes, which can be read as standalones, feel a little slight and this is why: they could also just be two pages in a book of lullabies. The 1975 edition is the more complete, and it's the only place I've seen The Dreaming Bunny, which is worth seeking out, dreamy and beautiful with a message (everyone is "contributing," even if their contributions are unseen or undervalued) that I appreciate.
Title: Goodnight Little One
Author: Margaret Wise Brown
Illustrator: Rebecca Elliott
Published: Parragon, 2012
Rating: 2.5 of 5
Page Count: 30
Total Page Count: 524,505
Text Number: 1913
Read Because: reading the author, borrowed from Open Library
Review: I'm biased against this style of excessively cute, very modern illustration style, but I'm pleasantly surprised to find I don't hate it here. This is a very basic bedtime book, rhythmic, gentle, almost motionless, and the very textured/fluffy art enlivens what could be a vapid cuteness. As noted elsewhere, this story is also in The Sleepy Book aka The Golden Sleepy Book as a two-page spread, which is part of the reason it feels spread thin over 30 pages.
Title: Little Donkey Close Your Eyes
Author: Margaret Wise Brown
Illustrator: Ashley Wolff
Published: Harpercollins Childrens Books, 1995
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 30
Total Page Count: 524,535
Text Number: 1914
Read Because: reading the author, borrowed from Open Library
Review: As noted elsewhere, this story is also in The Sleepy Book aka The Golden Sleepy Book as a two-page spread, which is the reason it feels spread thin over 30 pages. But the illustrations transform this work, doing as much as the text: in vibrant, detailed linocuts with rich back outlines, Wolff creates a distinct sense of place, and the journey from rural farm to nearby jungle to coastal city, with a cast of color, roots this, grounds it, shapes it to bring out the best from MWB's gentle, precise lists. This impressed me.