You Nest Here With Me

by Jane Yolen, Heidi E. Y. Stemple, Melissa Sweet (Illustrator)

Overview

With rhyming text, this soothing bedtime book is an ode to baby birds everywhere and sleepy children home safe in their own beds. As a mother describes to her child how many species of birds nest, from pigeons on concrete ledges to owls in oak tree boles to swallows above barn doors. The soothing refrain of "you nest here with me" eases her little one and readers alike to slumber. Combining their poetic writing and their love of birding, mother and daughter Jane Yolen and Heidi Stemple have written what is sure to become a bedtime classic.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781590789230
Publisher:	Highlights
Publication date:	03/03/2015
Pages:	40
Product dimensions:	11.40(w) x 8.80(h) x 0.30(d)
Lexile:	AD680L (what's this?)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Jane Yolen has received numerous awards for her writing, including the Golden Kite Award, two Christopher Medals, and both the Kerlan Award from the University of Minnesota and the Regina Medal for her body of work. She lives in Hatfield, Massachusetts, and St. Andrews, Scotland. janeyolen.com.

Heidi Stemple has published almost 20 books and numerous short stories and poems, mostly for children. She lives on an old farm in western Massachusetts.

Melissa Sweet has illustrated nearly 100 books for children. She wrote and illustrated Balloons Over Broadway which garnered many awards including the 2012 Sibert Medal. She also illustrated A River of Words: The Story of William Carlos Williams by Jen Bryant, a 2008 Caldecott Honor book. She lives in Rockport, ME.

Editorial Reviews

You Nest Here With Me is a charmer…a lullaby in the guise of a child's ornithology primer…Sweet's fine watercolors are gently playful and zoologically accurate. The book's three creators share a consuming interest in birds…They've come up with a bedtime book warmed by the comforts of home. But it also does the best possible job of encouraging children to become bird-watchers for life.

The New York Times Book Review - John Lithgow

01/19/2015
Frequent mother-daughter collaborators Yolen and Stemple, whose previous books include Not All Princesses Dress in Pink, offer a gentle rhyming bedtime story that spotlights 14 birds’ nesting habits and habitats. At bedtime, a human mother lulls her own “nestling” to sleep with verses that flit from bird to bird, before concluding with a reassuring refrain: “Pigeons nest on concrete ledges,/ Catbirds nest in greening hedges,/ Tiny wrens, in shoreline sedges./ You nest here with me.” Caldecott Honor artist Sweet’s (A River of Words) mixed-media illustrations portray familiar types of birds (pigeons, swallows, owls) alongside lesser-known killdeer, grackles, and coots, capturing their urban, seaside, wetland, or forest environs in bright swaths of watercolor paint and soft pencils. Some vocabulary (boles, tors) and observations (“Killdeer, once their eggs are laid,/ Perform a broken-wing charade”) invite further investigation; concluding notes provide explanatory details (“To lure predators away from their eggs, killdeer act like easy prey by faking a broken wing”) and other information about each bird. A well-crafted and informative window onto the world of winged creatures. Ages 4–8. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

* "Do we need another good night book? The answer is unequivocally yes. . . . This delights the eye, mind and heart." —Booklist, starred review

". . . a gentle rhyming bedtime story that spotlights 14 birds' nesting habits and habitats. A well-crafted and informative window onto the world of winged creatures." —Publishers Weekly

"As she puts her daughter to bed, a mother shares a soothing rhyme about birds that nest in places far and near. . . . A worthwhile purchase for collections that need new selections for bedtime sharing." —School Library Journal

"With an easy cadence and a comforting anchor, Yolen and Stemple drift from cowbird to killdeer, bedding down winged creatures while always returning to the safety of mom and home. . . . The text and the images work well together, balancing the mood of quiet comfort with avian description. . . . As a whole, the book ably carries readers past many flying friends and lands with ease in a safe nest." —Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher

This book by Jane Yolen and her daughter is full of the assurance that young ones need: they are safe at home, and in this story the mother repeatedly reaffirms this assurance. This could be a bedtime story, with Mother is putting the little girl to bed on the opening page of the book. In the child’s hand is this very book. We look through the bedroom window and see her mom reading You Nest Here With Me on the facing page. The book is also a kind of bird guide. The fourteen birds framed in the poem and shown by the artist’s watercolor paintings are common to most parts of the United States. The reader sees young birds as part of family of birds. Adult birds feed the young and fledglings leave the nest to test their flights. Information about each bird and a small painting of the birds’ eggs and feathers are found at the end of the book. This could fit with a science study or a study of homes and habitats. Reviewer: Carol Wolfenbarger; Ages 5 to 8.

Children's Literature - Carol Wolfenbarger

02/01/2015
PreS-K—As she puts her daughter to bed, a mother shares a soothing rhyme about birds that nest in places far and near. Each rhymed triplet is followed by the repeated assurance: "But you nest here with me." Sweet's watercolor and gouache landscapes reveal adult birds watching over nestlings. Coots hide in cozy cattail reeds; terns wheel above cliffs; plovers explore sandy shores. Each vista includes many details for viewers to ponder. Older listeners (or adult readers) can find additional information about the featured birds in two pages of authors' notes, which encourage prospective bird watchers. However, the book probably will be read most often as a comforting prelude to sleep. VERDICT A worthwhile purchase for collections that need new selections for bedtime sharing.—Kathy Piehl, Minnesota State University Library, Mankato

School Library Journal

2014-12-06
Nestling her young child in for the night, a mother shares in rhyme the many ways birds bed down to sleep. "Swallows nest above barn doors, / Plovers nest on sandy shores, // Eagles nest upon high tors, / But you nest here with me." With an easy cadence and a comforting anchor, Yolen and Stemple drift from cowbird to killdeer, bedding down winged creatures while always returning to the safety of mom and home. Sweet's illustrations, done in watercolor, gouache and mixed media, use a soft palette of blues and greens in double-page spreads that capture the essence of each bird. The text and the images work well together, balancing the mood of quiet comfort with avian description. With a variety of nest types, the birds show that "home" can be wherever your loved one is close by. Although it has clear application as a bedtime book, there is also a nature book hovering in the wings. The authors' note provides information such as diet, markings and locations on 14 different birds. The images of each bird's egg and feather along with its silhouette will surely captivate budding ornithologists. As a whole, the book ably carries readers past many flying friends and lands with ease in a safe nest. (Picture book. 3-8)

Kirkus Reviews