LULLABY FOR THE KING: A Glorious New Picture Book

 

Nikki Grimes

 When NYTimes best-selling author/poet Nikki Grimes writes any book for any audience, I pay attention. I hope you do, too. Her titles for middle grade, older youth, and adults have produced legions of avid fans. Count me among them. Her picture books, though, are my favorites. If you missed my recent post about a breathtaking, heart-wrapping release is HERE.

Her text always enchant my ears with their lyrical musicality, whether rhymed or free verse. Each word earns its place on the page and invites multiple re-readings by families, librarians, teachers, and young readers. Her text, from beginning to end, encompasses masterful storytelling, powerful imagery, emotional connections, and inspiring insights. Take every aspect of the above praise and add to it the importance of the subjects she addresses and I'll stand aside while you rush to your library or add her work to your personal wishlists and gift requests.

Beaming Books. October 10, 2023 

LULLABY FOR THE KING  is, on first glance, a glorious celebration of the birth of Christ, making it a wonderful choice for the Christmas season. That was my expectation as I opened the cover. (Look at that magnificent cover. More about the illustrator Michelle Carlos later.) That's all it took for me to recognize how much more this new offering provides for readers with any (or no) Christian background.

The glory of this seemingly simple story unfolds on magically colorful double page spreads, each featuring a member of the animal kingdom who've received word of the birth of a king. They spontaneously form a caravan that travels "through wilderness, uphill and down, for hours that spun into days". Each has selected a unique gift to deliver when they eventually arrive.

Page by page, stanza by stanza, Grimes writes in concise free verse  graced with luscious word choices, eloquent gift descriptions, ear-pleasing assonance, and rhythm that reflects the steady pace of a determined caravan of familiar and less-familiar animals of land, water, and air. 

The suspension of any hint of predator-prey relationships provides that inspirational element I referenced above. This is not a simple lion-and-lamb connection, but one of the power of sharing a higher mission and values. Their arrival  does not signal the conclusion, only setting the stage for the deeper aspects of this original tale. The pages that follow their arrival celebrate the role of SOUND, from the nightingale's gift of song, to the notes of instruments given as gifts, to the choir of angels hovering above the manger. The final page turn features the animals assembled at the feet of the holy family, the lullaby text and notes above them, with that translucent choir of angels topping the page. The simple verse and melody convince me that this will become a favorite new Christmas carol for many.

Attempting to illustrate such a magnificent manuscript must have been intimidating, but artist Michelle Carlos created images and scenes that matched and even elevated the power of this story, page after page. Using a mesmerizing balance of realistic detail and srurreal colorations, each scene reinforces Grimes's imaginative descriptions of gifts and creatures as well as the mood of reverence and anticipated celebration that drives this caravan forward. The endpapers are the exception to the interior vibrant eruption of color. Instead the opening end papers, nearly identical to the final papers, are rendered in subtle desert shades and tones, nearly monochromatic,  that allow the entire caravan to proceed through dessert sand valleys and dunes. Their black silhouettes and shadows emphasize the variety and distinct differences among them. The opening papers include their later-described gifts in each figure, while the closing papers show the animals proceeding without those elements. The opening sky in this scene glows with an infusion of fuchsia-tones, while the sky in the closing papers is a swirl of new-day blue. 

Now, about my prior claim of the universal appeal and theme of this book, despite its clearly Christian/Christmas story. I hope that my praise in the above notes makes it clear that excellence of this level is not subject to boundaries or discrete identities. The glory of the language itself and the beauty of the illustrations make it a treasure in any hands. More deeply, the sense of higher purpose, peaceful cooperation, and the value of individuality and potentiality provide inspiration to anyone, any age. Another universal concept is the way in which beauty (both visual and musical) invites us to savor and explore, again and again. This will certainly be true, regardless of backgrounds, with readers across ages and holiday seasons making fascinating new discoveries on each page and in each image with each return. A great example is the happy discovery of this elegant design for the hard case under the paper cover:

Hard Case Cover ("undie award conciliate!)

The release for this is October 10, 2023, but it can be ordered in advance from then publisher, HERE, from indie bookstores HERE, or at online sales sources. I have no doubt that the initial printing could sell out before the holidays arrive, so make sure you get your own copy and copies for gifts as soon as possible.