Welcome to the pre-lose-an-hour-of-sleep-and-then-try-to-get-your-kids-to-go-to-bed-an-hour-early-this-weekend edition of Perfect Picture Book Friday!
Daylight Savings Time may have had a useful function at some point, but as far as I can tell, that point is not now.
Don’t worry, though! I have a solution! When your little ones don’t want to go to bed because it feels like it’s an hour too early, you can read them this wonderful book, set to the tune of Rock-A-Bye Baby! It will be just like a lullaby. Yes, some parts are about louder genres of music, but you can sing in your most soothing voice and everyone will be asleep in no time. Because that’s always how it works, right? 😊
Title: Rock ‘N’ Roll Baby
Written By: David McMullin
Illustrated By: Allison Black
Publisher: Random House BFYR, March 3, 2026, fiction, board book
Suitable For Ages: Baby – 3 years
Themes/Topics: music, musical genres, musical instruments
text copyright David McMullin 2026, illustration copyright Allison Black 2026, Random House
Opening:
“Rock ‘n’ Roll Baby, warm up your voice!
Give the whole world a cause to rejoice.
Look! It’s your fans! They’re here to engage,
So slide on your knees and take center stage.”
text copyright David McMullin 2026, illustration copyright Allison Black 2026, Random House
Brief Synopsis: [from the publisher] “Rock on, Baby! Explore a day in the life of a baby, from waking up to bedtime, through different types of rock ’n’ roll music. A dazzling rework of the classic lullaby “Rock-a-bye Baby”!”
text copyright David McMullin 2026, illustration copyright Allison Black 2026, Random House
Links To Resources: Fun activities provided by author David McMullin! Thank you, David!
Dance-
Freeze Dance: Dance wildly to music, then freeze when it stops (use classic rock songs for variety!).
Scarf Dancing: Use silk scarves or ribbons to mimic sounds or feelings in the music (swirling, floating).
Instruments-
Tin Can Drums: Decorate tin cans and use them to drum along to music.
Kitchen Percussion Band: Tap different kitchen utensils (wooden spoons, whisks) on pots and bowls to explore high/low sounds.
Music-
Rock Playlist: Create a playlist with kid-friendly rock and talk about the different instruments you hear.
Emotion Matching: Play songs with different moods (happy, sad, silly) and ask kids how the music makes them feel, then dance it out.
Tips for Success-
Keep it short and fun.
It’s about exploring sound and movement, not perfect rhythm.
Join in and model the actions.
text copyright David McMullin 2026, illustration copyright Allison Black 2026, Random House
Why I Like This Book: This bright, engaging book introduces youngest readers to ten different genres of music via a fun to read – or sing! – aloud rhyming spin on the beloved lullaby, Rock-A-Bye Baby. How clever is that? A book about music that you can sing to a lullaby! That’s right up there in the “wish I thought of that” category! A board book, it is small (and sturdy) enough for little hands, and the bold, colorful illustrations will beckon babies to examine them, while the rhythm, rhyme, and fun of the text will have little ones begging to read it over and over. A great choice for any budding little musician on your list!
I hope you enjoy it as much as I do 😊
For the complete list of books with resources, please visit Perfect Picture Books.
PPBF folks, please add your titles and post-specific blog links (and any other info you feel like filling out 😊) to the form below so we can all come see what fabulous picture books you’ve chosen to share this week!
Have a wonderful weekend, everyone! 😊
David is a children’s book writer, illustrator, and poet. His books are FREE TO BE FABULOUS! (Clarion at HarperCollins), ROCK ’N’ ROLL BABY (Crown at Penguin/Random House) and an unannounced early reader series coming out next fall. Honors include an SCBWI Ann Whitford Paul Award, an Astra International Picture Book Writing Contest award, and he was the 2021 Madness Poetry champion. He has been a Mentor for several programs. David and his husband are currently full time world travelers, bird nerds, and YouTubers. In past careers he was a Broadway actor, an educator, and a children’s librarian.
David’s Website
Susanna Leonard Hill 
What a wonderful concept! Thank you for sharing some joy with this cool book.
This is such a great book and David did a marvelous job with the rhythm, energy, and playfulness in word choice. It’s such a fun board book! Glad you featured it for #PPBF.
Love this book and review! The Indie Punk baby poem and spread cracked me up, and the text and illustrations filled me with energy and delight! Thank you!
The Country Rock baby song won my heart! Guess who is running out to the nearest bookstore to buy a copy of David’s awesome book? Thanks for another wonderful PPBF review.
I love music with rhythm and rhyme, and look forward to reading this clever and delightful book.
what a cute book. Love the graphics and sing-a-long aspect of it. Congratulations!♥️
I just love how colorful it is. I was literally thinking about a book idea using that lullaby yesterday morning. So funny!
great way to get the party started at toddler story time!
Thank you for sharing Rock ‘n’ Roll, Baby!
My pleasure, David! 🙂
Can’t wait to read it!!!
This is a fantastic choice for PPBF and would pair well with Brian Gehrlein’s book, This is NOT a Sleepy Bear Book which we laughed at quite a bit while reading multiple times here at my house.
Congratulations, David, on your new book!!!
Loads of fun! Thanks, Susanna!
The text and the illustrations just make me want to dance!
What a fun and playful book! Loved reading the snippets – and the illustrations are energetic. I say, throw up your arms and dance!
The text and illustrations are fantastic! Looks like a winner❣️
An adult can have a lot of fun reading/singing this book aloud for the tots!
What a sweet and fun book. Indie Punk Baby really rocks!
This sounds great! What a novel concept. I’ve written a book to a well-known tune, but I wondered how you let readers know that? I see it’s in the publisher’s synopsis. Was it also on the blurb on the back? Thanks! Jodie