The sounds of lapping water and dipping oars ease readers into the famous canals of Venice, Italy. With mother as gondolier and father singing his calming song to baby, a family floats serenely through this one-of-a-kind historic city, past features as unusual as stone winged lions and golden masks and as comfortably familiar as babbling neighbors and drying laundry. The baby drifts deeper and deeper into Venice's maze and--finally--sweet sleep.