Review by Booklist Review
Conrad, a big-eyed (one might say bug-eyed) pug, watches as his family gets ready for bed. But is Conrad tired? He is not. Unlike some, Conrad is bothered by this and heads outside to see who else is awake. In a bouncy and informative text, Conrad gets a look at how sleeping animals catch a few zzz's. Ducks sleep swimming in a row. A bear sleeps for months before he wakes. Sometimes the text scans well ( Elephants sleep in a herd at night. / A monkey's tail keeps the balance right ), and sometimes the rhymes are strained ( Rabbits sleep underground. . . . Snakes sleep lying down ). The rich ink, watercolor, and gouache illustrations are cleverly done and offer views from many perspectives; the delightful animals are the focal points of the spreads, though Conrad appears in each, observing sleep patterns. In the end, he finds someone up his little girl owner. And what better way for them to get 40 winks than go cuddle up together? But all is not quite as perfect as it seems, because, as the last spread shows, Conrad snores.--Cooper, Ilene Copyright 2010 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
In illustrator Hall's first book as author, too, a family's diminutive, anxiety-ridden pug, Conrad, is plagued with sleeplessness. Conrad's enormous, moist eyes widen in consternation as he watches the family head upstairs ("Everyone is getting ready for bed./ 'Good night, everyone,' they all said"), leaving him alone. Hall (Because You Are My Teacher) works in casual, swoopy watercolor, gouache, and ink, painting fields of dark purples and blues and pools of moonlight as Conrad wanders far and wide, discovering that other animals aren't bothered by insomnia. "Ducks sleep swimming in a row./ What about plants? I don't know./ Frogs spend their nights/ at the bottoms of lakes.../ A bear sleeps for months before he wakes." Conrad even takes a diminutive motorboat out into the sea to check out sleeping otters, as well as a polar bear slumbering on an ice floe, where the pug's eyes take on an especially alarmed cast. Straightforward verse and pared-down spreads make for even pacing, and the story moves smartly to its conclusion as Conrad finally finds companionship and consolation. Ages 3-5. (May) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 1-A pug suffering from insomnia explores the world of sleep, traveling far and wide to observe and contemplate the sleeping habits of different types of animals (including a cave full of bats, inexplicably sleeping during the night). The rhymes are forced and uneven: "Look at this!/It's a herd of sheep./and every one is fast asleep./How many sheep? A hundred or so?/Maybe a thousand? I don't know./There are more sheep here than I've ever seen./I count a few-/yawn/Then see more in between!" Finally, the dog returns home, frustrated by his inability to join the world of slumber, and finds a wide-awake companion before ironically falling asleep and leaving his friend awake and alone. The art far outshines this well-intentioned story. Hall's cartoon animals are delightful. It's impossible not to be charmed watching the pug's growing consternation as the evidence builds and he wonders if he's the only one who cannot sleep. As in Karma Wilson's The Cow Loves Cookies (S & S, 2010), Hall's figures are rendered with confident gestural outlines and gorgeous shading that conveys emotion and action in a way that is a joy to behold. Anyone with a soft spot for the oddball cuteness of pugs and their like will have a hard time resisting these illustrations and likely be willing to overlook the awkward writing. A supplemental purchase for large collections.-Anna Haase Krueger, Ramsey County Library, White Bear Lake, MN (c) Copyright 2013. 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
In this quiet rhyming bedtime story, everyone falls asleep except a family's small dog, Conrad. Soft, muted ink, watercolor, and gouache illustrations capture the nighttime ambiance as the doggy wanders the world contemplating the sleeping patterns of ducks, frogs, bats, and other creatures. Finally, the pup hops under the little girl's covers, falling fast asleep (and leaving her wide awake). (c) Copyright 2013. 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
An imaginative pug with insomnia explores the night world of sleeping animals with a dreamlike narrative in rhyming text. Conrad the pug just isn't interested in sleep when his family heads off to bed. He slips out into the night alone and sees all sorts of familiar animals sleeping near his home. As Conrad ventures further into the heart of darkness (his name is Conrad, after all), his observations veer into the fantastical. He can see under water and into distant environments, spotting such unusual animals as elephants, monkeys, a panda and a tiger. At first Conrad is an observer, but he becomes a participant, swimming with the "creatures of the deep" and sleeping on his back tucked into a group of walruses. He returns home to find the little girl of his family still awake, and Conrad falls asleep in her bed. Readers will find the girl in an irritated state of wakefulness on the final page. This jarring attempt at a humorous ending doesn't complement the magical, ethereal tone of Conrad's journey. Intriguing illustrations in ink, watercolor and gouache capture the mysterious tone of the world at night, with a wide variety of perspectives and creatively integrated strings of ZZZs coming from the sleeping creatures. An inventive if not wholly successful look at the nighttime world of nature. (Picture book. 3-6)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
