City Lullaby

by Marilyn Singer, Marilyn Singer

Ice cream truck jing-a-linging Nine phones ringing, ten horns beeping In the stroller Baby's sleeping.

Will anything wake up that snoozing baby? Follow the red stroller through the cacophony of the city and find out! Rhythm, rhyme, and lots of noisy onomatopoeia from premier children's poet Marilyn Singer, coupled with chaotic, colorful art from an acclaimed European illustrator, make this a rowdy read-aloud, with plenty of things to find and count on every spread.

Genres: Picture Books, Poetry, Storytime, Counting, Childrens, New York

32 pages, Hardcover

First published October 15, 2007

About the author

Marilyn Singer was born in the Bronx (New York City) on October 3, 1948 and lived most of her early life in N. Massapequa (Long Island), NY. She attended Queens College, City University of New York, and for her junior year, Reading University, England. She holds a B.A. in English from Queens and an M.A. in Communications from New York University.

In 1974, after teaching English in New York City high schools for several years, she began to write - initially film notes, catalogues, teacher's guides and film strips. Then, one day, when she was sitting in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, she penned a story featuring talking insect characters she'd made up when she was eight. Encouraged by the responses she got, she wrote more stories and in 1976 her first book, The Dog Who Insisted He Wasn't, was published by E.P.Dutton & Co.

Since then, Marilyn has published over seventy books for children and young adults. Her genres are many and varied, including realistic novels, fantasies, non-fiction, fairy tales, picture books, mysteries and poetry. She likes writing many different kinds of books because it's challenging and it keeps her from getting bored. She has won several Children's Choice and Parents' Choice Awards, as well as the following: the Creature Carnival, Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award Honor Book, 2005; I Believe in Water: Twelve Brushes with Religion, New York Public Library's "Best Books for the Teen Age," 2001; Stay True: Short Stories for Strong Girls, Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults, 2000 (YALSA); On the Same Day in March, Booklist's Top Ten Science Books of 2000; NCSS-CBC Notable Book, 2000; Deal with a Ghost, finalist, YA category, Edgar Award, 1998; It Can't Hurt Forever, Maud Hart Lovelace Award, 1983; The Course of True Love Never Did Run Smooth, ALA Best Book for Young Adults, 1983; Turtle in July, NCTE Notable, N.Y.Times Best Illustrated and Time Magazine Best Children's Books of 1989; Turtle in July was also a Reading Rainbow review book.

Marilyn currently lives in Brooklyn, NY, with her husband Steve; their standard poodle Oggi, a cousin of their beloved and recently departed poodle Easy, seen in the home page photo; a cat named August ; two collared doves named Jubilee and Holiday; and a starling named Darling. Her interests include dog training, reading, hiking, bird-watching, gardening, meditation, playing computer adventure games and going to the movies and the theatre. She's also a major Star Trek fan.

Reviews

[Randi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book’s illustrations uses a very busy palette. Was any color missed? It gives the child loads of things to look at. Reds, yellows and oranges predominate with naively styed images using acrylic and dry and oil pastels. The text engages the reader, demanding he search through the illustrations to confirm the facts. Are there 8 excited dogs barking? And I see only 7 annoying cell phones. Oh, wait, there’s another, and there’s the ninth.

The text seems sparse, barely consuming any space on the page opposite the illustrations. But it’s rich in vocabulary and tons of onomatopoeia (4 b-ball players were thump-thump-thumping; 7 trash cans clanging, bashing; ice cream truck jing-a-linging.).

There is a story line, of a woman pushing a carriage along the busy city streets, a baby fast asleep inside, and apparently oblivious to the cacophony of sounds around it, until they come upon a lone bird beginning to twitter. A child can get lost in the pages of this colorful and cacophonous city, counting down from 10 to 1, following this contented baby safely ensconced within the folds of his blanket, perambulating through the streets of this busy, busy city.

[Leah Avery]

This story is about a child sleeping in a stroller throughout a very loud city. The book includes a lot of rhymes and onomatopoeia, and this is what allows it to be a great read aloud book. The illustrations also allows reader to be engaged with what else is happening in this very busy city and opens the door for a lesson on sounds and other topics of city life. This book truly shows what it is like to be in the city, as I read it I felt as though I was there watching the story unfold. This story is one that I enjoyed reading to my large group of students and it allowed them to work on speech and pronunciation. This book is one that I will keep on my classroom bookshelf for its engaging story and beautiful art.

[Maxine Fife · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is about numbers in the city. Throughout this story, Singer writes about many things within the city making noise, but the baby is still sleeping in its stroller. At the end of this story one single bird tweeting wakes the baby after all of the noises going on around the baby. I really enjoyed this book and it was also easy to read. I think this book would be good for children learning to count and just beginning to read. I also enjoyed the bright illustrations within this book as well.

[Lauren Voland · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was cute. The illustrations were so pretty. Throughout the book, the setting is in the city and different things are counted and the constant thing is a baby sleeping. All these loud noises are happening but the baby never wakes up. Towards the end, one bird chirps and it wakes the baby. I thought that was funny but it kinda makes sense. They're in a city so they're kinda used to all the noise and it might be uncommon to hear birds so maybe that's why the baby woke up?

[Laura Bradham · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a great book! This is a book about real city life! The baby in the stroller sleeps through all the "normal" city sounds, horns, basketballs, buses, motorcycles, trash cans, etc. But wakes up when an "unusual" city sound starts - a bird tweeting. I just loved it. So many children's stories are about the farm or in some sort of rural setting. Finally, one that is in a city setting!

[Misbah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Seems a bit derivative of the classic Christmas song but I think the repeating words might achieve their goal of being soothing to small children before bedtime.

Might get a bit annoying for parents. I wouldn't know, lol.

[Katlyn Marsh · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is more for students who re from busy, city areas and known the commotion that happens in them. The colorful words and pictures bring the story to life and create an engaging environment for the reader to become engaged in. I found this to be a great read!

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Busy art, which fits the story, but I feel that the face of the baby on the right of the spread didn't bring the baby into the story enough. The end was confusing with the bird introduced at the #1 and then it tweets again...and then the end? I don't think we needed to hear from the bird twice.

[Pavla Pletkova · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interactive (because children search while reading), good rhyming scheme and fun illustration. One of my favorite books for young readers.

[Karol · Rating 3 out of 5]

A busy rhyming read with numbers and every day noises and a sleeping baby.

[Grace MacLaine · Rating 2 out of 5]

It counts backwards which makes it really hard to do with storytime (I count hold up 10 fingers when one hand is busy holding the book!).

[Lisa Suchy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book "City Lullaby" is all about city life and the noises happening in the city. This is happening all while a baby is sleeping. Sounds like car horns, ringing phones, and the rumbling subway are only some discussed in this book. The book also countdown from 10 - "Traffic jam, 10 horns beeping..." all the way to "1 bird begins to twitter." Each city sound is paired with a number to describe the happenings in the city. The rhyming sentences and upbeat rhythm of the book makes for an easy read. But the reader wonders, will all the city noises wake the sleeping baby??

The illustrations of this book are vibrant and colorful. They fill the left page, as the text is on the right page. They appear to be almost collage-like, giving the feel of a cramped, crowded city street. The illustrations have onomatopoeia filling the page as well to bring the city noises to life! This book can be interactive as the reader can count the number of items described in the text. I would recommend this book for preK-first grade. The simple concepts of counting give a young tone to the book, however the imagery and description are done very well.

[Sarah Sammis · Rating 4 out of 5]

City Lullaby by Marilyn Singer and Illustrated by Carll Cneut is a counting book set in a busy and noisy city. A mother is pushing her sleeping baby through the hustle and bustle.

The noise is made up a traffic jam, ringing cell phones, dogs barking, trash cans being bashed about, car alarms, taxis, a two on two basket ball game, some busses and two loud motorcycles. None of this though can wake the baby, whose contented face is show opposite each of the crowded and busy city street illustrations.

There is a lot to look at and the racket can be fun to mimic. I don't see this "lullaby" being a quiet before bed book. It's far too playful and colorful.

[Renee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beeping, ringing and barking, the sounds of the city come to life in this rhyming counting book. The right pages contain the text with the outline of a sleeping baby, while the left side has brightly colored illustrations of the city. The rhyming text lends itself to singing and children ages pre-K to kindergarten who live in a city will enjoy the funny twist of city sounds. My one critique is that in all of the pictures, people of different ethnicities are portrayed as having the same very pointy noses.

Positively reviewed in Booklist, Kirkus and SLJ

[Samantha Penrose · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute, but not great.
This cumulative text story counts down from ten to one as baby sleeps his way through a noisy city. I particularly liked the line about 9 annoying cell phones ringing....
There are tons of things to look at and count in the busy city illustrations and the text has a nice rhythm to it.
Not being a huge city girl I found it odd that baby sleeps through all of the artificial noise but is awoken by the sounds of nature!
A good read for 3-5 year olds....it offers a where's waldo-esque way to practice counting since you must study the busy illustrations to count the items.

[Esther Moss]

Reading level: unknown, probably 2nd

Genre - picture books - there are illustrations on each page

This is a counting book from 10-0, where each page features a different city scene

Mentor traits:

Voice - the book has rhythm and rhyme

Word choice - the book features "jewel words," such as mashing, clanging, and bashing

Integration: I would read this book during a math lesson or to reinforce rhyming. I could also read it before or after a city field trip to help students get ready or process all the things they saw when walking around in the city.

[jacky · Rating 3 out of 5]

I missed about half of this because Natalie was leading me across the room to visit a baby. What I did hear was pretty good. It lists city noises, including a number of items each time. For an adult, the ending is predictable. One quite noise wakes the baby when all the loud city noises don't. Good for those interested in cities, especailly if you are just about to go on a trip to one or have just gone home from one.

[Pam Mccullough · Rating 5 out of 5]

I actually picked this for my daughter Sam because of the cover, very bright and colorful, short and easy to read without alot of explanation from my 4yr old. Starts from 10 to 1 in a rhyming fashion, helps kids count down their numbers in a fun way. For all you moms out there this one's a keeper.

[Alice · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really need a half points systems. 3.5 Stars for me. This book was really good with the counting and the ha ha at the last. A baby can sleep through an atomic blast (figuratively) but the second a tiny bird tweets, baby is awake. The pictures are okay, and the number repetitions have a 12 Days of Christmas feel with out being too obnoxiousness or overly repetition. Fun one!

[Kathleen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Useless as a counting book. How is a kid supposed to count 10 horns honking or 9 phones ringing, etc.? Especially since half the items to count are barely on the page/in the gutter?

The pictures are pretty, but chaotic and busy and jumbled, which I suppose is appropriate, but makes it difficult for any purpose except learning about "life in a city."

[The Brothers · Rating 3 out of 5]

More Dex's (2 years old) than Asher's (4 years old) speed. It's a counting book of city sounds surrounding a sleeping baby - such as seven trash cans bashing, eight dogs barking, nine phones ringing, etc. etc. In the end, its the gentle tones of a bird tweeting that finally wakes up the baby.

Pretty neat illustrations though - jumbled and fun.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the painting style of the illustrations, and I am always a fan of books that have a page or two dedicated to small pictures of the items being counted as a review.

[Tricia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable. Bright illustrations and repetitive numbers/text tell the story of all going on in the city while baby is sleeping. Ending will delight children.

[Melissa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Confusing

[Valleri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Somewhat difficult to not become tongue-tied while reading this repetitive city rhyme, but enjoyable nonetheless. I love that it includes the little things about the Big Apple.

[Joan Arbogast · Rating 4 out of 5]

a clever counting book where endless city noises don't wake the baby until a single bird tweets... wonderful, colorful illustrations!

[Megan Chan]

Category: Additional