Bringing Home Sleepy Animals (and Extinct Ones)

This week I let Z pick his own three books from the library and he chose two about sleeping. Strange!

The first book (which is not about sleeping) is Dinosaur Roar! by Paul and Henrietta Stickland, the same Paul Stickland whose dino pop-up book we have. This is a book of bright illustrations and simple rhymes. If you have a really young one that is into dinosaurs, there are whole pages that are just a collection of dino drawings that will fascinate them for a while. I think we will keep looking for more Stickland books because they are colorful and happy.

The first of our bedtime books is Little Quack's Bedtime by Lauren Thompson, illustrated by Derek Anderson. We haven't read any of the other Little Quack books, but this is an adorable one on its own! The illustrations remind me a bit of the little ducky in Suzy's Zoo. Five duck siblings fall asleep one by one after overcoming their fears during the night. Their mom lets them know that the different sounds and movements are the natural rhythms of the night. And if you were wondering if a cartoon duck yawn on the cover of a picture book is contagious, it is!

The final book we got is Bear Snores On, another book from a series that we haven't checked out before. This book is by Karma Wilson, illustrated by Jane Chapman. Bear is hibernating on a cold and snowy night and, one by one, little critters come to take shelter in the den. They end up having a party while Bear sleeps. Eventually, something wakes Bear up and he is furious and then sad! He has missed the party! So he joins in the fun and, by the morning, all of the other animals are sleeping. This book has a great rhythm and a good building of tension as bear wakes up and reacts. I'm very interested in the other books in this series.

Ducks and bears and dinos, oh my!
K and Z


Buy Dinosaur Roar!, Little Quack's Bedtime and Bear Snores On on Amazon or find them at your local library.