Guest Writer: Isabel Anders
Who Is Mother Bilbee?
Mother Bilbee transforms familiar lullabies and animal tales—with a deeply child-friendly twist on classic rhymes. In this first title, Sing a Song of Six Birds, Karine Makartichan’s whimsical and eye-catching illustrations depict blackbirds who “turn the tables around” on the original nursery rhyme—as they become the bakers!
She may wear an apron and bake cookies with colorful sprinkles on top, brightening a rainy afternoon—“Just because … ”
Or she might sit, rocking, wearing earbuds, and listening to Brahms’ Op. 49, No. 4, published in 1868 and widely known as “Brahms’ Lullaby.”
She was inspired to write her take on “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” by a line in Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice: “How far that little candle throws his beams! So shines a good deed in a naughty world.”
Her own upbeat version, “Twinkle, Twinkle, Shining Star!” rocks this line: “When you remind me to aim high, it’s as though I touch the sky!” Gazing at the night sky always thrills and inspires her, as though she were a child, too.
Keenly aware that words also shine in a world that needs their vibrant sparks, she loves crafting a rhyme that’s hard to forget. She maintains her sense of play and promotes the pleasure of reading tales out loud, preferably with someone you love. As she points out in her retelling of “The North Wind and the Sun”:
… Here is what the Sun and Wind reveal to us in fun:
There can be different ways to learn how to get things done!
It isn’t always visible—the power we’re thinking of.
Sometimes, the most effective way to move us is through love.
In just such ways, in Mother Bilbee’s Tales, she happily provides new twists and meanings to sit alongside the classic lines that everyone knows. She spins her stories not to replace older poems and tales—but to encourage young minds to think outside the usual and search to find what matters most to them.
By teaching children to ask the right questions, she believes the answers in specific situations will naturally carry them from “here” to “there.” It isn’t always the flashy, boasting ones who make the grade, as revealed in her Folktale rhyme “The Hare and the Tortoise.”
The hare began in confidence, a smile upon his face. BUT …
The tortoise knew that, after all, it’s: “Steady wins the race.”
How we act now, in situations that test us, IS what we are—and a preview of what we can yet become. Mother Bilbee, without being preachy or tiresome, passes out colorful treats that carry inside them a second, more profound gift: Reminders that our thoughts and actions today, if we take care, can become steps to something bigger, better, and more satisfying than we could ever dream!
As we learn from her retelling of “The Milkmaid and the Bucket”:
It’s fine having plans and great actions pursuing.
But don’t let them distract you from what you are doing!
Tomorrow, this maid would take care and not fall—
Or she’ll pick herself up and then laugh at it all.
We can make mistakes and do better next time.
And that is the point of this sweet milkmaid rhyme!
Mother Bilbee would gladly carry the bucket on her head, just like the milkmaid, if sharing milk and cookies with her eager child-listeners was about to begin right now.
Release date: June 1.
Advance praise for Mother Bilbee Tales:
“Heart-warming! Any child would love this!”—Dr. Elizabeth-Anne Stewart, Life Coach, and Image Guidance Counselor.
“Intelligent and insightful.”—Oralee Stiles Hamilton, Spiritual Director, Oregon Interfaith Spiritual Center.
Isabel Anders
Joanna Seibert. joannaseibert.com