Naamah and the Ark at Night
Susan Campbell Bartoletti’s lyrical lullaby imagines the creatures on Noah’s Ark being soothed by the singing of Naamah, Noah’s wife. “She sings and strokes their hair at night; / She sings a bedtime prayer at night. / She sings for moon to fill the night; / She sings for stars to thrill the night.” Bartoletti’s entrancing narrative is based on a ghazal, an Arabic poetic structure in which a pair of rhyming words in each couplet precedes the ending word, which is the same for every line in the poem. The transition from restlessness to ease described in the narrative is echoed in Holly Meade’s lovely collage illustrations spanning each page spread, which showing animals and people on the Ark in Naamah’s care. An author’s note shares more on the origins of the story in Bartoletti’s imagination and the mysteries of Noah’s wife among scholars. Honor Book, 2012 Charlotte Zolotow Award ©2012 Cooperative Children's Book Center
Illustrated by Holly Meade
CCBC Age Recommendation: Ages 3-7
Age Range:
Babies/Toddlers (birth – 3)
PreK-Early Elementary (Ages 4-7)
Formats:
Picture book
Poetry
Subjects:
Bedtime
Girls and Women
Nighttime
Religious Stories
Stories in Rhyme
Diversity subject:
Middle East
Publisher:
Candlewick
Publish Year: 2011
Pages: 32
ISBN: 9780763642426
CCBC Location: Picture Book, Bartoletti