Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star

by Jane Cabrera

Overview

All around the world, from the sleeping city to the icy pole, baby animals and their parents share the wonder of a twinkling star.

Sparkle, sparkle, little star,
how I wonder what you are.
Peeking through the silent trees,
high above the deep blue seas . . . 

On a beautiful night an owl sings to his owlet, a deer to her fawn, a whale to her calf. Animal parents all over the world sing this lullaby to their young, celebrating parents' love for their children. Jane Cabrera's handsomely painted full-sized picture book is perfect for story hours or sharing at bedtime.

Jane Cabrera's Story Time celebrates children's best-loved read along nursery rhymes and songs. These interactive favorites are given a new twist by award-winning artist Jane Cabrera and feature her bold, bright, kid-friendly illustrations. Other titles in the series include Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush, If You're Happy and You Know It,  and One, Two, Buckle My Shoe.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780823456130
Publisher:	Holiday House
Publication date:	09/05/2023
Series:	Jane Cabrera's Story Time
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	454,109
Product dimensions:	8.51(w) x 10.24(h) x 0.15(d)
Age Range:	3 Months to 3 Years

About the Author

Jane Cabrera is the author and illustrator of many beloved books for young children, including Baa, Baa, Black Sheep; There Was an Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe; and Row, Row, Row Your Boat. She is best known for her exuberant versions of classic nursery rhymes and her bright, kid-friendly paint and collage illustrations. Publishers Weekly has said "her style exudes the joy of creation." She lives beside Dartmoor National Park in South Devon, England.

Editorial Reviews

Cabrera expands on this classic nursery rhyme, taking readers around the globe as friendly parent-child animal pairs cuddle together and gaze up at a chunky five-pointed star in the night sky. With each new verse, Cabrera switches both the setting and the quality of the star’s light: “Glisten, glisten, little star/ how I wonder what you are./ Up above the grassy plain.../ through the warm, wet jungle rain.” Bright colors and thickly painted vignettes generate a mood of comfort and safety, culminating in a scene that shows a human mother and child staring at the star before bedtime. Ages 2–5. (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly

"Cabrera’s distinctive paintings of baby animals and their parents create a riveting focus for young children, and the bold lines, energetic brushwork, and naive style should please their parents as well. A fresh take on an old favorite."—Booklist
 
"Bold, playful paintings full of texture, bright colors, and thick black outlines take readers from the forest to the ocean to the Arctic to the jungle with animals who watch the little star 'sparkle sparkle,' 'flicker flicker,' 'shimmer shimmer,' and 'glisten glisten.'"—School Library Journal
 
" A pink-cheeked version of a song most everyone knows, with new verses highlighting cozy animal dyads across the world. . . . A nursery charmer."—Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher

PreS—Expanding on the beloved nursery song, this picture book starts with the original verse and then adds more while showing the star from various vantage points around the planet. Bold, playful paintings full of texture, bright colors, and thick black outlines take readers from the forest to the ocean to the Arctic to the jungle with animals who watch the little star "sparkle sparkle," "flicker flicker," "shimmer shimmer," and "glisten glisten." Pairs of parent/child animals including whales, kangaroos, vultures, and polar bears feature big smiles and bright eyes as they stare up at the star that ties each page and verse together. The closing rhyme with a human mother and baby summarizes, "Twinkle over towns and trees,/fields and farms,/Lakes and seas./Twinkle, twinkle, up above…/…for me and for/the one I love." Nighttime silhouette endpapers also include the music for the tune. Jerry Pinkney's lush version of Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star (Little Brown, 2011) has a more complex and imaginative narrative, but younger children who are not quite ready for it will enjoy this bright volume.—Julie Roach, Cambridge Public Library, MA

School Library Journal

A pink-cheeked version of a song most everyone knows, with new verses highlighting cozy animal dyads across the world. The bright yellow and red owlet with its parent opens the lullaby with the verse we all know. Next a papa deer and fawn in the forest, a whale and calf in the sea, a kangaroo and joey in the outback, vulture and chick and so on, each filling a two-page spread. The verse mirrors the pictures: "Glisten, glisten, little star, / how I wonder what you are. / Up above the grassy plain …" shows a papa lion and cub, and on the next spread--"…through the warm, wet jungle rain"--a pair of rosy-cheeked monkeys. The five-pointed, butter-gold star is prominently visible on every spread. Color and line are thick and bold, while all of the animals, from polar bears to pussy cats, have button eyes and the suggestion of human smiles. The final verse ("Twinkle over towns and trees, / fields and farms, / Lakes and seas") shows just such a vista, with lollipop trees, a building-block city and a little red lighthouse. The concluding spread, "Twinkle, twinkle, up above … // … for me and for / the one I love" pictures that bright star on one page facing a golden-haired mother and child. The music for this venerable tune is on the back endpaper. A nursery charmer. (Picture book. 3-6)

Kirkus Reviews