The author's love letter to his mother, a gentle, repetition of the words of a Latino lullaby, starts off with an image of a young boy too scared to fall asleep and a father remembering his own mother singing a beautiful song about a turtledove to him. The soothing " Cu-cu-ru-cu-cuuu! " of the dove helps all fall asleep, and the mother sings of the boy's guardian angel coming down to take the boy up to heaven to visit Papito Dios, el Padre Celestial, the Heavenly Father. The soft words are accompanied by strong illustrations of family bonds, Christian imagery and suns and moons with human features. Heavily outlined in black, the vivid, textured paintings have an eye-catching folkloric quality. The bland, sentimental bilingual text in English and Spanish may appeal to families seeking bedtime books with religious feelings. (Picture book. 3-5)

PreS-Gr 2-A father sits at the bedside of his child who is afraid to sleep and tells the youngster about a lullaby his mother used to sing to him. According to "the turtledove song," when you go to sleep "your Guardian Angel will come to you in your dreams and take you-up to Heaven to reunite you with Papito Dios, your Heavenly Father." When you return, you will feel "refreshed, rested, and as powerful as the wind." A note at the book's conclusion indicates that the author based the story on his own experiences. Unfortunately, the text consists of a tedious dialogue that pretty much says the same thing on every page: "My mother sang me a lullaby when I was a little boy...." In Ramarez's folk-art illustrations, the bold thick lines and stylized portrayal of the characters do not convey the sense of life and rebirth that is clearly Villasenor's intention. More problematic is the fact that there is really no story here. The wordy text when compounded bilingually creates an almost insoluble design problem and the pages are often cluttered. The lullaby is conveyed through the dialogue only and neither lyrics nor music is included. A disappointing effort.-Tim Wadham, Maricopa County Library District, Phoenix, AZ Copyright 2008 Reed Business Information.