You're Safe With Me by Chitra Soundar, illustrated by Poonam Mistry

You're Safe With Me by Chitra Soundar,

illustrated by Poonam Mistry

2018, Lantana Publishing, 32 pages

On a dark and stormy night, the baby animals in the jungle are scared - of the wind huffing and puffing and blowing the trees, of the loud thunder claps, of the lightening that sparkles in the night sky, and of the water rushing in the river.

Luckily for a little monkey, a baby loris, a tiger cub, and a young pangolin, a large, but gentle mama elephant comes along, and tenderly rocks them to sleep cradled in her truck. As she rocks them, she offers soothing words whenever the babies wake up whimpering. Don't be scared, mama elephant tells them as she comforts with reasons why each scary naturally occurring stormy element is good for the jungle in which they all live.

In calming, rhythmic language that reads like a lullaby, Chitra Soundar has written a beautiful, reassuring story that any parent or caretaker who has a fearful child will be grateful to have, especially on a dark and stormy night.

I've actually had this book for a while, and have read and re-read it many time by myself and with kids. We all love the story, and have spent some time exploring the incredible illustrations by Poonam Mistry, done in one of the most unique styles I've ever seen in a picture book. She describes it as coming from her love of nature, and exploring the relationships between patterns, shapes, and color to create intricate illustrations, with a decidedly Indian influence. Mistry's digitally created images certainly reflect this philosophy.

 After you and your kids have read and enjoyed You're Safe With Me, be sure to visit Chitra Soundar's website where you can find related activities such as a crossword and word search puzzles, and a coloring page that looks suspiciously like the mama elephant in the story. While you're there, why not explore her other books for young readers.

The publisher of You're Safe With Me, Lantana Publishing, is a relatively new independent publisher based in London. Their mission is to produce high quality, diverse books for kids and after having read many of them, I would say that they are indeed succeeding.

All in all, I can say that You're Safe With Me is a wholly satisfactory reading experience and I highly recommend it. And if you like it as much as we did, you'll be happy to hear that there is a companion book called You're Snug With Me by both Chitra Soundar and Poonam Mistry due out October 1, 2018

This book is recommended for readers age 6+
This book was sent to me by the publisher, Lantana Books