Hush, Little Baby by Brian Pinkney

In “Hush, Little Baby,” Brian Pinkney writes his story through a new version of a popular lullaby, “Hush Little Baby.” This new lullaby version is sung by an African American father, while his son provides the music by playing a guitar. The father and son duo are trying to stop the baby sister from crying, who is missing her mother since she had gone off for the day. The folksong is sung to the baby girl in hopes of making her feel better and stop crying. Pinkney decided to alter the original lullaby by changing the billy goat to a spinning top, the cart and bull to a dog named Pearl, and adding the fire truck to the end of the folksong. As the father and son try their hardest to stop the baby girl from crying, they go through many whimsical gifts. Finally, as they present her with the last gift, a fire truck, the mother returns and finally the baby girl is happy and stops crying.
After reading “Hush, Little Baby,” I fell in love with this adorable African American family, who were all dressed in 1900s attire. As soon as I opened the book, I noticed colorful and bright images covering the entire double pages. Pinkney, who is also the illustrator, drew the characters with a curvy appearance, which gave the illusion of appearing full of energy and weightless. As with the illustrations, the words were also written with a curvy style, which I felt was very effective. I feel that “Hush, Little Baby” would be an effective way for students to learn a folksong, while understanding the importance of unity and being with loved ones. I believe that by having a book that incorporates both a popular lullaby with an adorable African American family that exhibits love and harmony, the children will be able to learn a song, a type of family, and important values. In addition, one can also describe the type of attire and way of life for people living in the 1900s. Another classroom activity the students could engage in is that once the children have read the book and heard the song, their teacher could read Pinkney’s book again, but this time ask the students if they remember what the next item was that the baby girl received from her father. Through repetition and engaging in a memorization activity, the children will soon learn a new, fun song.