Ten, Nine, Eight by Molly Bang

Ten, Nine, Eight by Molly Bang

Rating: 4.5 stars

This is a simple counting and bedtime book that works really well.  Despite the fact that most countdowns are pretty exciting things, this countdown is calming and comforting and will hopefully result in a sleeping child, just like the one at the end of this book.

But you've got to know the background of the book to fully appreciate it.  When her daughter was two, the author spent a few weeks away from her--it was the first time she'd spent such a significant amount of time apart.  One night, in the middle of the night, Ms. Bang woke up and wrote this down as a poem to her daughter.  Luckily for us, her daughter thought it'd be neat if the poem her mama had written for her was published for other (less creative) parents to read to their (still deserving) children.

(So...if I'd like to write a good children's book, I need to go away for two weeks and keep a notebook by my bed.  Sweet!  I'll let my husband know I'll be going to Jamaica for two weeks in February.)

Another really interesting tidbit: The author made the father and daughter black; her publisher told her that she'd likely cut her audience, and thus her paycheck, in half.  Of course, she chose to do it anyway and, wonderfully, it has sold equally "to both white and black, and all shades in between."