The wind is calling. Hear it sweep
through our village, fast asleep.
Will you sail away with me?
You and I are salt and sea…
And so, bath time turns into a magical expedition. A grown-up and child embark on the voyage together, meeting mermaids in the sea, playing hide-and-seek in an enchanted forest, and soaring with the birds before sailing home to read and snuggle in for bedtime, which they know is just another adventure beginning. Through it all, they cherish the most important thing in both dreamland and the real world: being together.
“Bedtime preparations kick off a romp through the imagination. Hosford’s soothing first-person text, told from the perspective of the grown-up, combines with the comforting deep blues and greens of Jones’ digitally finished acrylic and watercolor illustrations for a natural bedtime read that’s also likely to be a popular gift among new parents. A soothing, poetic look at a common nighttime routine.”
-Kirkus Reviews
Writing Stars and Night
I continue to be preoccupied with the topic of steadfast love. Of course, there is no shortage of books on this topic. In my own writing, I have addressed steadfast love in Infinity and Me, Mama’s Belly and You’ll Always Be My Chickadee. The challenge is how one can bring something new to the genre both in one’s own writing, but also in the canon of ‘love you forever’ books. For this book, I wanted to enter the realm of fantasy, where an adult and child are called by the wind to leave their cozy home at bath time and embark on a magical adventure. I wanted to use rhyme to enhance the magical nature of the journey, and metaphor to address the bond between adult and child. On every spread, the adult reinforces her love for the child through a tagline related to the present action in their adventure: you and I are boat and sail/fork and spoon/ glow and flame, etc. Aided by the wind, they return home tired and happy, ready to resume their bedtime rituals. But I didn’t want to end the story there. Instead, I wanted them to embark on an even bigger adventure as they drift into dreamland together. The final illustration still takes my breath away when I flip to the last page, with the even bigger boat ascending into the night sky. Illustrator Richard Jones was able to take this story to the next level by depicting a loving bond between child and grown-up on every spread. His enchanting illustrations are also filled with all sorts of hidden treasures for children to discover. Even after reading the book a gazillion times, I am still discovering new things. My hope is that children and their grown-ups will find this story both adventurous and soothing, and that the message of steadfast love will be playful, varied, and reassuring.
Reviews:
The Horn Book:
“A parent shows a toy boat to a bubble-bathing child and offers an invitation in rhyme. “Will you sail away with me?/ You and I are salt…/ and sea.” On the next spread, an imagined ocean washes away the blue tiled floor, and the child’s checkerboard towel becomes a wind-filled sail atop a tub-shaped boat. With each ensuing page, the parent spins seafaring adventures as they navigate an otherwise familiar routine from bathtime to bed. They sail past “each wave and every tentacle and tail,” then drop anchor to munch snacks ashore. They swim with baby mermaids and explore an island by running through forests and soaring over hills before making the journey home. Each rhythmic four-line stanza ends with a new metaphor; e.g. “You and I are fork and spoon,” “…blue and sky.” Jones uses saturated, vibrant colors and a lack of outlines in his illustrations to create a vivid dreamlike landscape. Hosford’s quiet, whimsical text ultimately settles on reassurance, demonstrating a respect for the needs of a young child. “Hold my hand and lead the way/ Our home is still above the bay/and everything is still the same/ You and I are glow and flame.” Tender without being saccharine and fanciful without any dramatics, this is the epitome of a bedtime book.”
-Grace McKinney Beerman