A Week of Lullabies

Two lullabies accompany each day of the week in this brightly illustrated book. The poems vary in tone and topic and are randomly assigned to particular days. Margaret Hillert's ""A Christmas Lullaby'' appears for Monday bidding children to ``Sleep like the animals sleepily curled/ In soft little nests in a winter white world.'' N. M. Bodecker's ``Bedtime Mumble'' offers bedtime fun for Friday: ``A cherry pip,/ a turnip tip,/ A snippet in the snow,/ a snail, a rail,/ a lobster tail,/ the guppy has no toe.'' Poems by Tennyson, Nikki Giovanni, Karla Kuskin, Gwendolyn Brooks, Margaret Wise Brown and Elizabeth Coatsworth are printed on a white page, in stark contrast to the cheerful paintings opposite. With bold colors on a flat canvas, the borders of Russo's pictures are filled with flowers, animals and homey quilt squaresperfect for a nighttime snuggle. Ages 4-up. (March)