The musical score to ten lullabies accompanied with colorful illustrations by the renowned Brenda Joysmith makes this book a collector's item. What is a hush song? "An African-American hush song is a relfection of an ancient memory, as ancient as the throbbing cadences of African drums.....Historically, African-American women rocked the children in their care with the lullabies imported from Europe. But in the singing, this new woman, this African American woman, made the melodies her own, embellished them with African meaning. As with so much that we heard as we arrived on these shores, we took the sounds and shaped them new." (Joyce Carol Thomas). Among the ten lullabies included in this book are "All the Pretty Little Horses", "Somebody Bigger Than You and I", and "The Lord's Prayer". Buy this for your grandbaby or better yet - buy it for yourself to use when the grandbabies come to visit. Historical headnotes and a thoughtful introduction by the author make this book even more meaningful. Ages - all. Author - Joyce Carol Thomas