A New Margaret Wise Brown Book

Thomas Nelson publishes a forgotten manuscript, and Margaret Wise Brown's public gets a new picture book by this gentle and delightful author 56 years after her death.

More on their website, or purchase from Amazon.

I received it in the mail today from Thomas Nelson, and read it aloud to my 18 and 10 year old- and they were both charmed. It's a sweet book, and we love the bright, vibrant, charming illustrations. It's a wonderful read aloud for approximately preschool and below. Using the refrain "God bless the moon and God bless me," an adorable koala travels the world at bedtime, observing children in different countries. "The moon shines down, and sheds its beams On a house with a stork where a Dutch boy dreams Of tulip fields by quiet streams In his flat Dutch Land of cheese and creams. I see the Moon and the Moon sees me, and the Moon sees the Dutch boy far over the sea. Whe the tulips bloom by the Zuider Zee, O God bless him and God bless me."

We visit Switzerland, the far east (in one swoop, Japan, Korean, Chinese, Laotian, and Vietnam; Mexico, France, Zimbabwe, Australia, and the ocean. There's a two page spread about Christmas and the Christ child as well.

Since the book is for the youngest children, the children in this book are not suffering from hunger, war, famine or drought, they dance in the rain, sleep under the moon, and smile happily. It's a gentle introduction to geography and the idea that God cares for everybody all over the world.

Note: the poetry is a little choppy and awkward at times, but we liked it anyway.