Behowl the Moon: An Ageless Story from Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream

by Erin Nelsen Parekh

Overview

A verbatim selection from Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream turned into a board book bedtime story for the littlest readers. Animal sounds, fairy antics, and vibrant illustrations will enthrall babies, toddlers, and caregivers alike.

"With the fervor of Maurice Sendak’s Wild Things on their rumpus . . . at once sophisticated and approachable, with a whimsy that youngsters will enjoy."--Kirkus Reviews (starred review).

A Parents' Choice Recommended title.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780998439716
Publisher:	Drivel & Drool
Publication date:	03/20/2017
Product dimensions:	6.50(w) x 1.50(h) x 9.50(d)

About the Author

Erin Nelsen Parekh is a mother of two and has worked in book publishing, journalism, and childcare. She loves language in all its forms.

Mehrdokht Amini is a children’s book illustrator living in England. She graduated with a degree in Graphic Design and has worked as an illustrator for both educational and mainstream publishers, earning a variety of awards along the way, including an ALA Notable designation, a PubWest Gold medal, the Children’s Africana Book Award 2016, and a star for outstanding merit from the Bank Street College of Education.

Editorial Reviews

09/11/2017
Parekh excerpts two sections of Puck’s speeches at the end of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, which Amini (Golden Domes and Silver Lanterns) brings to haunting life in illustrations that help clarify the Shakespearean language. As “the heavy ploughman snores,” night falls and an assembly of creatures that includes a lion, wolf, donkey, fairies, and three sprites released from their graves cavort across a landscape of blackened hills and trees. The imagery is dark, even startling at times, yet the closing scenes show these unlikely companions gathering tenderly around a campfire before falling asleep. An unusual and lovely introduction to the rhythms and cadences of Shakespeare’s writing. Up to age 3. (BookLife)

Publishers Weekly

★ 2017-05-16
Shakespeare's words reach a new—very young—audience in this gorgeously illustrated board book offering a new story by debut adapter Parekh and veteran illustrator Amini (Chicken in the Kitchen, 2015, etc.) of fairies and animals to accompany lines from A Midsummer Night's Dream. Beginning with familiar visuals for young lap readers, the book opens with a roaring lion and a howling wolf. The animals, along with some fairy friends, free a tired donkey from his yoke while a ploughman sleeps. Joined by a mouse, a screech owl, and a growing population of fairies, the group hikes to the ruins of an old church, finding the three-faced Hecate, whose cloak contains the night. With the fervor of Maurice Sendak's Wild Things on their rumpus, the characters frolic before they hush, assuring listeners if this has seemed too strange, it is "but a dream." Soon, all the animals and their fairy friends drowse off as well, making for a lulling bedtime tale. Shakespeare's lines are sure to challenge young independent readers, but for the youngest listeners, whose minds hear sounds and rhythms as much as the words they're still learning to decode, the patterns here are as lovely on the ear as they are when spoken by Puck at the end of the famous play. Amini's textured illustrations of the fearsome wolf and lion might intimidate youngsters if not for the playful fairies on every page, smiling, with wings blurred so that they actually appear to be moving out of the corner of a viewer's eye. Hecate's black-and-white, almost transparent form contrasts with the luxuriously rendered creatures, such as the brightly pigmented snake and fairies, some whom have a three-dimensional appearance in their dress, like petals or scales. Parents who love Shakespeare will find this a perfect introduction to the works of the Bard—it's at once sophisticated and approachable, with a whimsy that youngsters will enjoy. Originally funded by a Kickstarter, this reinvention of Shakespeare's verse into a new format is sure to be a hit with parents and their littlest listeners, too.

Kirkus Reviews