Review by New York Times Review
At the stroke of midnight, a shadowy figure swings across a moon-filled landscape. His silhouette, armed only with a collaged rope and the hint of a sword on his back, "climbed and clambered" along walls lined with mysterious, darkened textures. "The house was silent. Everyone was asleep." And then, out of nowhere, he's caught! The novice. DaCosta, in her first picture book, seems nonetheless experienced with such nighttime apparitions. This one's aborted mission was chocolate milk. He'll finish it in the morning. ALL THE AWAKE ANIMALS ARE ALMOST ASLEEP By Crescent Dragonwagon. Illustrated by David McPhail. 40 pp. Little, Brown & Company. $16.99. (Picture book; ages 3 to 6) Another entry in the reluctant sleeper category, with a sweetness reminiscent of Mem Fox's delicious "Time for Bed" and a menagerie to match. Here, persuasion is signaled through an A-to-Z's worth of sleeping animals, with creatures like the ibex and the quetzal dredged up to round out the alphabet. A cat is "curled up on a crimson couch cushion," and a dromedary "drops down to his knees, dozing under the date palms." This is a familiar tale, but McPhail's watercolors are luxuriously colorful, like a warm, luminescent blanket at bedtime, and the alliterative text is softly lulling. SLEEP LIKE A TIGER By Mary Logue. Illustrated by Pamela Zagarenski. 40 pp. Houghton Mifflin. $16.99. (Picture book; ages 3 to 7) "Once there was a little girl who didn't want to go to sleep even though the sun had gone away." Well - who ever heard of such a child as that? This one's got a scooter, a stuffed tiger, a princess tiara and a copy of "The Little Prince." And though she's recalcitrant, her parents are agreeable and accommodating. They patiently answer all her questions ("Do whales sleep?"). They tire her out. Logue's text is reassuring and rhythmic, but it is the fine detail and plush atmospherics of Zagarenski's layered multimedia illustrations that make the book shine. The lucky girl gets to cozy up to a slumbering tiger, an oversize fantasy of her lovey, at story's end. BEDTIME IS CANCELED By Cece Meng. Illustrated by Aurélie Neyret. 32 pp. Clarion Books/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. $16.99. (Picture book; ages 4 to 8) Never mind the convincing and the cajoling, the tricks and the threats and the extended bouts of despair. Just get rid of bedtime altogether, as Maggie proposes and her brother transcribes. Her parents dismiss the notion, but a tenacious reporter grabs hold, and in full-on 2012 fashion, the story is e-mailed, texted and broadcast about, with parents gaping at the "Bedtime Is Canceled" headlines on their iPads as they stroll through the park (a little too real). Neyret's images veer toward the cartoonish, but children will appreciate the humor. There is much to mock in overtired parents, it seems. NIGHTSONG By Ari Berk. Illustrated by Loren Long. 48 pp. Simon & Schuster. $17.99. (Picture book; ages 4 to 8) There is nothing at all cute about bats, but don't tell that to the talented Long ("Otis," "Of Thee I Sing," "Angela and the Baby Jesus"), who has managed in the past to make even a tractor endearing. Here we are called on to sympathize with a little nocturnal creature who is afraid of the dark. Berk's able storytelling enriches and elaborates on what might otherwise seem a tired notion. Of course, there's also a message about learning to rely on your own senses (or echolocation), and making your way in the world. Even when you're completely in the dark. PAMELA PAUL ONLINE A slide show of this week's illustrated books at nytimes.com/books.
Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [October 14, 2012]
Review by Booklist Review
*Starred Review* A familiar childhood complaint (and frequent picture-book story line) becomes touched with enchantment in this luminous offering. It begins with Once there was a little girl who didn't want to sleep. The girl's parents say she doesn't have to sleep but insist she put on her pj's anyway. Once in bed (though not tired!), she asks about how animals sleep, and her parents talk to her about cats and bats, whales and snails. And when that conversation is finished, and she's still not sleepy, her parents say she can stay up all night (in bed), but the little girl's bed was warm and cozy, a cocoon of sheets, a nest of blankets. She finds a warm spot like a cat, folds her arms like the wings of a bat, curls up like a snail, and falls asleep like the animal who sleeps to be strong the tiger. Logue's lovely, poetic text, which is high flying but never highfalutin, twins well with Caldecott Honor illustrator Zagarenski's inventive mixed-media artwork. As they did in Red Sings from Treetops (2011), Zagarenski's characters wear crowns as they make their way through magical lands whose details have both weight and whimsy, the latter coming mostly through sweet details, though the full-page picture of the girl cuddled in a bird's nest more than charms. This may put little ones to sleep, but they'll have a lot to look at before they close their eyes.--Cooper, Ilene Copyright 2010 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
"I'm not tired," says a small girl in a red dress and a crown. "I'm just not sleepy." Her affectionate parents-who also wear crowns-aren't fazed. "They nodded their heads and said she didn't have to go to sleep. But she had to put her pajamas on." The three talk about the different ways animals sleep, taking their cue from family pets and the girl's stuffed animals. Zagarenski's gently surreal jewel-box paintings chart the movement of the girl's imagination as she considers bears ("mighty sleepers," her parents call them), snails ("They curl up like a cinnamon roll"), and tigers. "When he's not hunting, he finds some shade, closes his eyes, and sleeps. That way he stays strong," she says. It's this image that holds the greatest promise of safety for the girl; as she drifts off, she imagines herself curled in the curve of the tiger's tail, embracing a stuffed tiger as she sleeps. Zagarenski's paintings take Logue's story to places marvelously distant in thought and time; each spread holds treasures to find even after several readings. Ages 4-8. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 1-The common theme of a child not ready for bed receives fresh treatment here. When a young girl repeatedly declares that she is not sleepy, her parents remain calm. She dutifully dresses in pajamas and washes up. After climbing into bed, she again proclaims that she is wide awake and questions her parents about how things in the world go to sleep. They patiently respond by describing the sleeping habits of familiar animals. After they kiss her goodnight and turn out the light, the child incorporates her parents' descriptions of the various animals into her nighttime routine. Like the strong tiger, she, too, falls fast asleep. The narrative flows well as the mood becomes increasingly tranquil. There is much dialogue in the first portion of the story. These conversations between daughter and parents are realistic. Young listeners will identify with the child's desire to remain awake. Zagarenski's stylized artwork shines with interesting details. For instance, the family is portrayed as royalty. The artist's distinctive spreads are a combination of digitally created art and mixed-media paintings on wood. The artist incorporates many patterns into the characters' clothing, rooms, blankets, and pillows. Her attention to detail can be found again on the endpapers where primitive circuslike train cars, a tiger riding proudly atop one of them, appear in sunlight and later in moonlight. The dust jacket depicting the sleeping youngster curled up beside a dozing tiger ushers in the gentle and calm mood of this memorable picture book.-Lynn Vanca, Freelance Librarian, Akron, OH (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
Its a seemingly familiar story: the child doesnt want to go to bed; the parents insist she does. A little scootering girl who didnt want to go to sleep even though the sun had gone away asks her parents if everything in the world sleeps. Her parents assure her that dogs and cats, bats and whales, snails and bears and even tigers sleep. Eventually, the little girl mimics the animals her parents have described and slowly falls asleep herself. Zagarenskis dreamy mixed-media illustrations are as calm and comforting as Logues understated prose. Stylized characters, extra-pale and often wearing crowns, feet perched on a variety of wheels, live in a surreal world of giant moons and random teapots and coffeepots. Each spread invites the reader to slow down, breathe deeply, and explore the world found in the illustrations. Is there a teapot on every page? Is everything and everyone on wheels? Is the tiger carrying the sun off the page on his back? Its impossible to see everything the first or tenth time, ensuring that parents never lose interest and that wide-awake children will have little choice but to eventually join our little girl, curled in her nest, wings folded like a bat, in a warm spot like the cat, fast asleep, like the strong tiger. Night-night. robin l. smith (c) Copyright 2012. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
The stages and script preceding this child's passage into dreamland are so appealing they will surely inspire imitation. When the protagonist announces that she is not sleepy, her wise parents counter that they are not requiring sleep, only pajama-wearing, face-washing and teeth-brushing. She then feels so good that "she loved / stretching her toes / down under the crisp sheets, / lying as still as an otter / floating in a stream." Logue's words lull and caress as parents and child converse about how and where animals sleep. (Many appeared on earlier pages as toys.) Alone, the youngster replays each scene, inserting herself; the cozy images help her relax. Zagarenski's exquisite compositions are rendered digitally and in mixed-media on wood, offering much to ponder. The paintings are luminous, from the child's starry pajamas to the glowing whale supporting her sleep journey. Transparent layers, blending patterns, complex textures and wheeled objects add to the sense of gentle movement. The tiger, both the beloved cloth version and the real deal, is featured prominently; it is the child who contributes this example, narrating the connection between strength and rest. When sleep arrives, the stuffed animal is cradled in her arms; she leans against the jungle beast, and he clings to her doll. This deeply satisfying story offers what all children crave when letting go--security and a trusted companion. (Picture book. 3-6)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
