Wynken, Blynken, and Nod

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

PW praised Westerman's "thoroughly dreamlike" characters and setting in her "soothing" interpretation of a classic bedtime verse. Ages 5-8. (Oct.)

Children's Literature - Janice DeLong

Artist Giselle Potter transforms Eugene Field's nineteenth century poem into a timeless adventure splashed across bright pages, engaging a new generation. As imagination reigns in the pre-sleep twilight of one small Dutch boy, he envisions himself as Wynken, Blynken, and Nod setting sail in a wooden shoe. The voyage takes the trio into dialogue with the moon and fishing among the stars. Bravely, they cast their nets and haul in celestial fish before heading home, where some naysayers claim that the trip was just a dream. The fishermen three, however, know the real story, and their surprise identities lie in the final cozy pages, where a loving mother tenderly sings her little man to sleep with promises of what he shall see on his impending night voyage. Potter captures the mood of peaceful adventure in her hint of wind, shadow, low candle flame, and star-studded coverlet. This reminiscence promises to be a bedtime favorite of contemporary children and adults who smile at their own childhood remembrance of the tale. Reviewer: Janice DeLong

School Library Journal

PreS-Gr 2- Potter's fanciful, artistic interpretation is ideal for this 19th-century poem about the wistful place between sleep and dreams. Wynken, Blynken, and Nod are portrayed as three young boys in matching green pajamas, wooden shoes, and red hats. They embark in their vessel, a large wooden shoe, and sail "...on a river of crystal light,/Into a sea of dew." Sea and sky flow into one another and soon the lads are speeding through the air, where the "little stars" are "herring fish" and the young fishermen cast their nets. The wooden shoe brings them home, where readers learn that the episode is a lullaby sung by a mother to her son who is tucked in bed, snug in his green pajamas with his toy fish. Done in Potter's characteristic style, each spread is a dreamy still life; the mixed-media paintings are drenched in the calming blues of the sea and sky, and the muted hues lend a soporific tone. There is an otherworldly quality to the artwork, and a note describes why the illustrator was attracted to this poem. Share this vividly imagined book with youngsters who need a little help gaining entry to the world of dreams.-Shawn Brommer, South Central Library System, Madison, WI

Kirkus Reviews

Field's 19th-century poem, originally entitled "Dutch Lullaby," serves as the vehicle for this visual exegesis of the celestial text. One night, fishermen Wynken, Blynken and Nod sail off in a wooden shoe on "a river of crystal light, into a sea of dew" to catch herring in their nets of silver and gold. But the herring are actually little stars, and Wynken, Blynken and Nod spend the night catching them before returning with their nets full. Field's text poses the possibility that this unworldly venture might not be a bedtime dream, and Potter reinforces the dream theme by portraying Wynken, Blynken and Nod as three wide-eyed little men in matching green suits, red caps and wooden shoes. Sailing their shoe vessel into a nocturnal landscape of giant tulips, the three fishermen converse with the man-in-the-moon, cast their nets into a midnight-blue, herring-spangled sky and glide home to their windmill. The hand-lettered text and mixed-media illustrations rendered in nighttime blues and greens lend an imaginative, dream-like quality to the ethereal text. (Picture book. 3-7)