Nighttime Symphony

“Hey there, darling baby child,/you’re safe in here/though the storm is wild.” In this lovely picture book, a tender lullaby in prose by music producer/songwriter/rapper Timbaland, an African American dad soothes his little boy’s fear of a night-time storm by reinterpreting its sounds and sights as vivid images of music: The steady beat of the rain, the dancing trees, angel musicians playing thunder and lightning accompaniment, the sound of rushing gutters that is “just the music water plays”; and the wind—“nature’s voice: melody and strings.” The book is the result of a partnership between Timbaland and Caldecott Honor illustrator Christopher Myers (Harlem), who did the full-bleed digital artwork—beautiful, saturated colors and evocative details—in collaboration with Kaa Illustration (the joint name of Vietnamese illustrators Phung Nguyen Quang and Huynh Kim Lien.