Coorie Doon: A Scottish Lullaby Story
Jackie Kay author Jill Calder illustrator
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Walker Books Ltd
Published:2nd Jan '25
Should be back in stock very soon
This hardback is available in another edition too:
- Hardback - Signed Bookplate Edition£12.99(9781529506662-SB)
"A warm hug of a book ... this seems as personal as any of Kay’s poetry. And as full of love." The Herald
The stunning debut picture book from Jackie Kay, one of the UK's foremost poets, rooted in familiar folk songs, and injected with gloriously lyrical old Scots.
When Shona was a wee bit bairn
Her daddy would sing Coorie Doon,
Till she cooried doon and fell asleep
Under the huge eye o’ the moon.
Every night, Shona is tucked into bed by her loving parents, who sing her old and familiar folk songs: Tiree Love Song; Goodnight, Irene and Will Ye Go, Lassie, Go? And as Shona sleeps, we follow the people and places that drift into her dream world: her best "fiere", Ali, her dog, Marley, her cat, Flo... Then, years later, we meet Shona when she is sixty – actually sixty years old! – as she tucks her daddy, now an old man, into bed. And it is her turn to sing to him: "Coorie Doon, Coorie Doon, wee Daddy". Magnificently illustrated by Jill Calder, this is a truly original picture book that celebrates the small, perfect rituals of childhood and how they become a vital part of who we are. The book also includes a QR code to scan that will link through to a video from Jackie Kay and free audio recordings of songs from the book from legendary folk singers Peggy Seeger, Claire Brown and Suzanne Bonnar.
Coorie Doon, by the poet Jackie Kay, with beautiful illustrations by Jill Calder, is a labour of love from both creators. It is a story, scattered with dialect words, of love between generations: adoptive parents sing Scottish lullabies to their daughter, who tucks in her “wee” father in his old age. This is about being safe and cosy, and about the remembered happiness of family, home, friends, pets and landscape. * The Sunday Times *
Little Shona’s parents sing her to sleep with traditional Scottish folk songs in this wild, imaginative picture book, filled with enduring tenderness and softly rambling dreams. * The Guardian *
a warm hug of a book about going to bed, sweet dreams, the moon, foxes, corbies “fizzing and jagged in the sky’s big bed,” mums and dads singing their children to sleep and grown-up children doing the same to their ageing parents. And frankly if that doesn’t tug on your heartstrings you haven’t got any. This also seems as personal as any of Kay’s poetry. And as full of love. * The Herald, Book of the Month *
Snuggle down, get cosy and drift away with this beautifully poignant bedtime story – the first from
Scotland’s much-loved former Makar, Jackie Kay. With fabulous illustrations by Jill Calder, it give us wee Shona, who, to the lullabies of her daddy and mammy, dreams about those she knows and loves, and Shona at 60 when the tables are turned and she sings to her elderly father as he corries doon. Brimming with love.
As a lullaby and poem it does not need a narrative, rather the gentle hypnotic marshalling of words to create atmosphere and a particular experience. It is one that is timeless […] The illustrations by Jill Calder are particularly striking bringing the perfect visual accompaniment to the poet’s words. The distinction between the real world and the dream world is cleverly managed by the use of colour and line. * Books for Keeps *
ISBN: 9781529506662
Dimensions: 286mm x 206mm x 10mm
Weight: 350g
40 pages