The author of the Anna Hibiscus series turns her attention to a younger audience with this comforting lullaby demonstrating that it takes a village (or at the very least, an extended family) to get Baby to sleep. Mama calls on the winds to settle Baby; Grandma cuddles the babe in some clouds; Mama sings down the stars for him while the entire family entreats the moon to smile on the child's face. Then Dad wraps the child in night's blanket, and Mom, Dad, and Baby drift off to sleep. Brooksbank's mixed-media illustrations favor blues and pinks, with yellow and green used for accent. The family depicted is mixed race (white mom, Black dad and grandma, and a lighter-skinned brown baby and sister), with a setting suggesting the outdoors. The spreads become darker as the night progresses, and an ethereal aura is present in all the artwork. A lovely nod to the importance of extended family in a child's life as well as a lyrical bedtime read.

A picture-book lullaby.Nothing in Atinuke's text dictates that the family depicted in this book must be interracial, but Brooksbank's illustrations depict the mother as White, the father and a grandmother as Black, and the two children with light-brown skin and curly, black hair. The titular baby has an older sibling who interacts with the tot in a loving, gentle way throughout. All of the family members are introduced on the full title page, each person cradling the baby in a sequence of pictures. The mother and baby appear at the far right of the spread, walking toward the page turn, and successive spreads show scenes of play and nurture with dreamy, saturated backgrounds and soft visual textures. The text does not rhyme but is nevertheless poetic, each sentence leading off with the titular refrain or a variation on it: "Baby, sleepy baby, I'll call on the winds / and you'll sail like a ship through the sky. / Baby, funny baby, I will gather all the clouds / to cuddle you, cozy and close." It's not entirely clear who is speaking-possibly each family member in turn, possibly just one of them; readers can discuss and decide. Regardless, the lyrical text matches the soothing visuals as each family member interacts with the baby in turn, until the parents drift off to sleep with their little one dozing between them.Don't sleep on this sweet bedtime book: It's as cozy as can be. (Picture book. 6 mos.-3)