Ancient Rhymes, A Dolphin Lullaby

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Author: John Denver
Illustrator: Christopher Canyon

Retail Price: Paperback • $8.95 | Hardback with CD • $19.95
Web Special: Paperback • $8.05 | Hardback with CD • $17.95

Here’s a rare, gentle way to share a birth with a child. John Denver’s hauntingly beautiful song “Ancient Rhymes” is about the birth of a baby dolphin, and Christopher Canyon’s luminous illustrations—including a baby dolphin curled up with an umbilical cord and also a live birth—convey a sense of mystery, awe, and anticipation of things to come. The baby soon tastes the air and learns of dolphin ways, much the same way as a human baby does. There’s something magical and indescribable about it—a timeless and endearing lullaby.

Book Details

Reviews

Denver’s gentle lullaby comes to life in Canyon’s gorgeous paintings. It tells of a baby dolphin, which, in much the same way as a human baby, learns of many dolphin ways while it’s still in its mother’s uterus. When it’s born, it leaps about, tasting the air and racing the seagulls. Denver’s hope was that this dolphin baby would teach humans the song of the dolphins and tell them how to share the earth in harmony. Canyon’s work richly paints a portrait of the dolphin’s watery world, with stippled effects that evoke the sun shining through the water and the foam on the crest of a wave. Youngsters will even gain a better understanding of dolphin birth through the illustrations-one shows a baby dolphin curled up with an umbilical cord and another, the actual live birth from a spot just underneath and behind the mother’s dorsal fin. A better-than-usual effort in the trend of song illustration.”

— Kirkus Reviews

Canyon’s love for Denver’s music is evident in the lush,romantic illustrations that accompany this dolphin lullaby. The idyllic ocean environment that welcomes the baby dolphin at its birth has mystical connections to the natural world as a whole. The page layout and visual images are striking. Readers will probably want to play the CD that accompanies the hardcover edition while viewing the pictures. Without music, the text seems convoluted and cloying at times and wouldn’t be easy to read aloud. Purchase as needed to satisfy requests from Denver fans, who will be the book’s most likely audience.

— School Library Journal

Deftly adapted and beautifully illustrated by Christopher Canyon, Ancient Rhymes: A Dolphin Lullaby showcases singer/songwriter John Denver?s song “Ancient Rhymes” which he composed in 1991 after the experience of swimming with dolphins. Also available in a hardcover edition which includes an accompanying CD and Score, Ancient Rhymes: A Dolphin Lullaby is confidently commended to the attention of school and community librarians and anyone of any age who admires John Denver?s music or who has ever wanted to swim with the dolphins themselves!

– Midwest Book Review

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