It’s Time to Hush and Say Good Night

Soundar’s sleek first-person couplets offer comfort in the face of nighttime anxieties while centering on a refrain: “Count the stars that twinkle bright,/ It’s time to hush and say good night.” Throughout, the speaker references nature as they assuage (“Ink this night with tendrils blue,/ I shush the whistling caves for you”), and Prabhat’s artwork highlights the reassuring relationship between a brown-skinned, dark-haired child and caretaker. Bold, page-filling patterns pair with surrealist depictions of bears, bees, birds, fish, and more cascading through the sky and spiraling around the protagonists. The result is an visually lively and insistent lure toward sleep. An opening note cites “traditional lullabies from India, where the nature around us is called upon to soothe,” as inspiration. Ages 2–5. (Oct.)