Synopsis
There was a baby who had no mother,
crying in the starlight.
And as the stars burned,
the baby's tears called to the
watching world.
"Stars; bright stars,
can you love me?
Will you be my mother?"
Gillian Shields's poetic expression of maternal love and Elizabeth Harbour's beautiful watercolors will melt hearts. This is an exquisite picture book for mothers and children to cherish.
Children's Literature
Once, on a starlit night, there was a baby who had no mother. Thus begins this gentle, poetic hardcover picture book. Alone in a field, she looks up at the stars and wonders if they would be her Mother—or maybe the moon, or the wind, or the trees? The baby cries out to all sorts of maternal possibilities, from natural forces to woodland creatures, but none answers her call until...it is heard by a woman, far away, who cannot smile because she has no child. And thus begins our story's happy ending: the childless woman immediately follows the baby's cry in the night, finding the little one who needs motherly love, and, as the morning sun dawns, carries her home in her arms. The prose is spare and lovely, albeit a bit sentimental and with more of an adult viewpoint than one of a child. The artwork is delicate, ephemeral and captures the magic of a starry summer night and the warm glow of the mother/child bond. This would be an excellent choice for a new baby or baby shower gift.