Scott Randall Lindberg will read from his new children’s book, “Lullaby: A Bedtime Story,” Sunday, Sept. 27, at 2 p.m., at Tesseract Books. (Submitted photo)
Yellow Springs resident publishes a ‘Lullaby’
- Published: September 25, 2026
A song Scott Randall Lindberg wrote more than a decade ago has found a second life — this time between the covers of a children’s book.
“Lullaby: A Bedtime Story,” recently published by Belle Isle Books and illustrated by Shannon Szczepanski, grew from the only lullaby Lindberg said he has written in about 50 years of songwriting. When he first wrote the song 10 or 11 years ago, he thought its imagery and rhythm might lend themselves to a picture book, but set the idea aside.
But the idea stayed with the local resident, musician and author, who said he journals every morning; at the time he wrote the song, he wrote in his journal that he believed the song would become a book someday, once someone who could help him produce it came along. The journal entry and the song both sat waiting.
Years later, Lindberg pulled the lullaby back out and sang it for his downstairs neighbor and friend, Mary Dahl.
“She started crying, and she said, ‘This could be a children’s book,’” Lindberg said — and the idea arose anew, as Dahl told him she knew an author who had published through Belle Isle Books, and could help make a connection.
The resulting book carries the song’s lyrical structure into a bedtime story built around childhood imagination and the intimate ritual of being read to before sleep. As any good bedtime story does, the book moves through a dreamlike landscape of fairies, forests, castles, stars and unicorns. But the story is grounded in a comfortable, down-to-earth image from its opening lines: an adult sitting beside a child, reading aloud.
“Come now, Mommy, come to my room. Please read me that story again. I’ve washed my face and brushed my teeth and turned the lights down dim.”
The image forms the basis for “Tuck-in Time,” an initiative Lindberg and Dahl are developing alongside the book. The idea, according to a statement from Dahl shared by Lindberg, is to encourage parents and caregivers to set devices aside, pull up a chair and spend part of the evening reading with a child, making room for eye contact and conversation.
“We’re trying to inspire parents for eye to eye, face to face dialogue,” Lindberg said.
Lindberg said he and Dahl hope to bring programs built around the book to libraries, day cares and schools. He plans to sing the original song, invite children to participate in reading and bring along a duffel bag of hand instruments for kids to play.
And the author has amassed a considerable collection of such instruments over years spent working as a music teacher. Lindberg said he initially only taught guitar to adults, but as families sought in-home activities as a result of the pandemic, he started offering music lessons to children. Eventually, he expanded his teaching to piano, ukulele, mandolin, banjo, dulcimer, voice, percussion — whatever folks asked for, really.
“I call it ‘beautiful noise’ because I’m a music teacher,” he said. “That’s what I do with my little ones — we just make beautiful noise.”
Some young students improvise songs about what’s going on in their lives; others move from instrument to instrument or follow musical treasure hunts Lindberg has devised around his home. As students get older, lessons become more structured, but he said he still tries to follow each student’s interest.
“Everybody has their own personality, so I have a different approach with every single one,” he said.
Giving his sustained attention to the person in front of him runs through Lindberg’s music teaching and the idea of “Tuck-in Time” — and it’s at the root of a spiritual practice he’s cultivated for years.
Lindberg said he starts most days with meditation, silence, reading and journaling, which he credited with shaping his writing. About a decade ago, he started posting short essays online that resulted from his morning meditations, and the brief essays often centered on what he described as “peace, love, hope, joy — universal spiritual principles.” Those writings eventually became the basis for his first book, “The Heart Speaks,” a nonfiction collection published in 2023.
Though Lindberg said the silence at the center of his meditation practice is necessarily solitary — “Nobody can do that for you,” he said — he has also invited others to meditate with him over the years. Bringing people together, he said, is where the inward work turns toward others.
“That’s the fruit of it, right?” Lindberg said. “It’s really what’s it all about — eye to eye, face to face.”
Sitting in silence with others, listening closely to a music student, reading to a child — Lindberg said he sees the same practice at work through all three: being fully present with another person.
“The key to it all,” he said, “is kindness and compassion.”
Lindberg will celebrate the release of “Lullaby: A Bedtime Story” with a live reading and book signing at Tesseract Books, 232 Xenia Ave., at 2 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 27.
Signed copies will be available at the event. Books are also available through online retailers.
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