River Rose and the Magical Lullaby

Grammy-winning pop star and American Idol winner Clarkson makes her children’s book debut with a by-the-numbers story about a girl’s magical trip to the zoo. The night before her first-ever zoo visit, River Rose (named after and inspired by Clarkson’s daughter) has trouble settling down for bedtime until her mother sings her a lullaby. In the middle of the night, River Rose discovers a cluster of magical balloons outside her bedroom window; they whisk her to a zoo where she meets and romps around with a variety of animals (“She turned on all the lights and sang, ‘There’s so much I want to see./ Lions, tiger, bears, oh my!... Let’s have a zoo party!’ ”) before returning home. Uneven rhythms and somewhat forced rhymes don’t do much to distinguish Clarkson’s verse, but Hughes’s mixed-media artwork, featuring wispy pencil lines and exuberant scenes of animals at play, contributes to the festive mood of River Rose’s journey. A downloadable version of Clarkson’s lullaby will be made available online. Ages 4–8. Author’s agency: CAA. Illustrator’s agency: Bright Agency. (Oct.)