"Hush, Little Baby" by Marla Frazee

This book brings you into the folk song's origins of the Appalachian mountain area in West Virginia.

There is just something so captivating about this book! We've had it checked out from the library for two months and our daughter still wants it read and sung to her. She loves looking at the details in the illustration and screaming like the baby, blowing out the candle, signing "broke" for the looking glass, or signing "happy" for the baby and the end of the book. She likes looking at books with babies and puppies and this book has both. The peddler has a mandolin which is a nice connection with her dad. I had never thought about what storyline the folk song might have. In this rendition, an older sister is jealous of her younger baby and wakes the baby and then asks her Papa to buy her items from a peddler to make the baby stop crying. Each item seems to make the baby cry harder but finally when the new day is dawning the "horse and cart fall down" and the baby is the "sweetest little baby in town." This is a perfect before bedtime, or before nap time, book. I hope you take some time to check out this folk song book.

Other activities to pair with the book:
--Sing other lullabies.
--Listen to mandolin music.
--Play house and pretend there is a baby that won't sleep.
--Talk about the emotions in the book like jealousy, anger, tired, exhausted, frustrated, peaceful, happy...

Other books by this illustrator that we have read over and over again and really enjoyed:
"All The World" By Elizabeth Garton Scanlon and illustrated by Marla Frazee. This book was awarded a Caldecott Honor.

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