Jerry Pinkney’s illustrations are always sure to be a winning set, and those in Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star (Little, Brown, 2011) are no exception. Pinkney weaves the words of Jane Taylor’s familiar children’s rhyme in with the creative imaginative adventures of a sleepy chipmunk. As the chipmunk climbs the foliage, he soars through the sky on a boat, visits a swan in a lake and then on the moon, and eventually settles in the swan’s down for his night rest.
Does Chipmunk really go on an adventure? I don’t think so; he’s daydreaming as he watches the stars come out. But the end result is a beautiful bedtime story of chipmunk, told without any necessary words. The sailor chipmunk reminded me of “Wynkin, Blynkin and Nod” (I loved the picture book illustrated by Giselle Potter).
As much as I love the illustrations, though, the creative Chipmunk’s imaginings and the “Twinkle, Twinkle” text don’t really go to together. I struggled to bring the song into context with the illustrated story as my five-year-old and I explored the pictures and read the song lyrics in the book. He loves the song, and I think he liked the pictures, but together something didn’t really work for either of us.
