The Babysitter Sings [Hardcover]

Phillis Gershator (Author), Mélisande Potter (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 2 and up

Baby cheeps like a bird
and I know why.
When Mama and Papa go out
baby starts to cry.

A calming picture book about separation that will help ease a child's fears

It's hard when Mama and Papa leave home. You want to go with them. You want them to stay. You want to know just when they'll return; and still, it's not soon enough. But while they're away, there's lots of fun to be had with a loving caregiver on the watch. Just listen as she sings playful, comforting songs. Listen, listen and know: Mama's coming home. Papa won't be long. Hush, little bird. I'll sing you one more song.

With nursery rhyme images pulled from traditional songs of Africa, Spain, and the Caribbean, this gentle picture book reassures young children that Mama and Papa will indeed come home soon.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

PreS–A tearful baby who longs for his parents is comforted by his caregiver's singsong lullabies. She adds a soothing note by repeatedly comparing the youngster's cries to those of a cheeping bird: "Hush, little bird./I'll sing you a song./Do you want to know/where Mama's gone?" The babysitter's songs suggest places that the child's parents are visiting, and Potter depicts these locations in her distinctive, fanciful style, as colorful spreads show Mama at the market and Papa fishing by the shore. When the baby continues to cry, the babysitter sings until he is lulled into a peaceful slumber amid visions of a sleeping lion, mooing cow, and flying doves. An author's note states that the "slumber-song images" have been collected from the traditional lullabies of Africa, the Caribbean, and Spain. Done in ink and gouache, the brightly hued paintings give the book an appealing tropical island setting. The text's reassuring tone and the dazzling artwork make this offering a gem to share with little ones experiencing separation anxiety.–Ajoke' T. I. Kokodoko, Oakland Public Library, CA
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Review

"Young children and their parents, too, will enjoy this reassuring rhythmical tale."--Kirkus Reviews, starred

"Perfectly paired text and pictures follow baby and caregiver through a full day of games and songs, intermingling images from the rhymes. . . . The book celebrates the undersung relationship while providing a bedtime resource sure to please little eyes and ears."--Horn Book

"The text's reassuring tone and the dazzling artwork make this offering a gem to share with little ones experiencing separation anxiety."--School Library Journal

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 2 and up
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR); 1st edition (May 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0805071997
• ISBN-13: 978-0805071993
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 9.1 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,878,950 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tropical and Topical for the Babysat Child, October 29, 2005

By 

M. Allen Greenbaum (California) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Babysitter Sings (Hardcover)

This very enchanting book about a babysitter's calming a little one offers soothing lullabies from Nigeria and some of the best pictures I've seen all year. Author Phillis Gershator (who lives in St. Thomas) teams with illustrator Melisande Potter (who resides in New York City and Jamaica) to create a beautiful synthesis of story and picture, narration and song. The author notes that they collected the "slumber-song images" collected from their native region, as well as Africa and Spain.

Through the window of a brightly painted house adorned with palm trees, tropical plants, green slat shutters, and a tiled roof, we see a babysitter holding a somewhat distraught young toddler. Ms. Gershator immediately identifies "Baby" with a passing bird: "Baby cheeps like a bird, and I know why. When mama and papa go out, Baby starts to cry." The kind babysitter explains their temporary absence in lilting songs.

Hush, little bird.
I'll sing you a song.
Do you want to know
Where Papa's gone?

Papa's gone fishing for fish in the sea
To bring home a fish
For Baby and me.

On the opposite page, Potter illustrates this song with an incredible array of soft but vivid colors. She imagine Daddy catching a beautiful giant golden fish from a turquoise sea splashing onto a lemon yellow beach, with purple hills bordering a lavender/green/blue sky. On the next page, the babysitter says that Mama gone to "buy bean cakes for Baby, so Baby won't cry, and we see a more closed-in picture of an outdoor bean cake seller. Potter varies this with her next picture of a wide open field, as the baby sitter seems to coax Baby not to wander off searching for Mommy and Daddy. The book presents the anxiety and worry of Baby, each time answering it with a song or a rhyme, and an accompanying picture that unfailingly adds color and warmth.

There is one discontinuity in the book, when toddler size Baby suddenly begins to look more baby sized. However, this change is barely noticeable, for the next "song" is about animals, and Ms. Potter draws a peaceful kingdom of a sleeping lion, a "cow who moos all day," and the ever present bird--a "dove who spreads her wings and flies away." Later, the babysitter whistles a visible wind of notes and birds above the baby in her lap, all against an almost magical azure background. The parents come home to their little one, who falls asleep with a toy rabbit in his arms. "Sleep will find you. Yes, it will." This lovely and sweet book is a wonderful discovery. The imaginative and distinctive pictures (ink and gouache on Strathmore watercolor paper), and reassuring, lightly abstract songs are almost certain to sooth and distract the concerns of any little one. One of the best books of the year.

5.0 out of 5 stars This book is a joy, October 5, 2010

By 

Linda Lu (South NJ) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Babysitter Sings (Hardcover)

My 4 y/o son and 2 y/o daughter love this book. We read it almost every night and they remember all the words.