Publisher's Weekly
Yolen and Mikolaycak have worked their separate charms and created a songbook so soothing it hums. The selection of lullabies includes the German ''Brahms' Lullaby,'' the Welsh ''All Through the Night,'' a black spiritual ''By'm Bye,'' a Yiddish cradle song, ''Almonds and Raisins,'' as well as songs of Gaelic, Appalachian, West Indian and other origins. Yolen's son has provided musical accompaniments for each lullaby, and the luminous paintings, in deep shades of twilight, enhance the tranquil mood. (All ages)

School Library Journal
PreS Up Yolen offers 15 of her favorite lullabies. The majority are traditional tunes (for example, ''Sleep, Baby, Sleep'' and ''Hush, Little Baby''), and one, ''Lulloo Lullay,'' is Yolen's own composition. Piano arrangements (with basic guitar chords indicated) are simple but stay in tune rhythmically and harmonically with the verbal sentiments. As noted in the song introductions, some of these sentiments are not the cloying ones many anticipate for sleepy infants. Indeed, the emphasis on appropriateness for the mature singer rather than the infant audience provides surprisingly rich material. Particularly appealing are the performance instructions, such as ''stately'' (for ''All Through the Night'') and ''chirrupy'' (for ''Hush Little Baby''). In the small spaces around the music, Mikolaycak's watercolor and colored pencils combine in varying palettes for each double page: sometimes somber violets and grays, sometimes warm russet, or lavenders, or greens. Furthermore, his astounding facility with perspective allows the eye to be drawn toward the often small focal point, the border, the arresting details, and back again. Talisman-like stars sprinkled over the initial pages are a visible reminder that these are night songs. The young audience most likely to hear these songs may have no appreciation for the sophisticated images, but weary parents and ambitious teen baby sitters will be drawn toward the magical atmosphere implied. Dana Whitney Pinizzotto, The Parish Day School of the Church of the Transfiguration, Dallas