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PRESCHOOL
Grimes, Nikki

Bedtime for Sweet Creatures

32 pp. | Sourcebooks/Jabberwocky | January, 2020 | Trade ISBN 978-1-4926-3832-2 $17.99
(2) PS Illustrated by Elizabeth Zunon. Grimes puts an animal-centric spin on a youngster's innovations for bedtime stalling. This lushly illustrated story, on double-page spreads full of bold, saturated color, opens with an African American child's firm attestation: "No! No! No!" It's bedtime, and this young person wants no part of it. The narrator, the child's mother, speaks in an immediate second-person voice. "In the forest of your room, you cling to Bear. I turn back the sheets, and you GROWL. 'In you both go,' I say." In response to each of Mommy's directives, the child's defiance conjures a colorful creature, adorned with geometric patterns. In most cases, the imagined animal is larger than the protagonist, emphasizing just how strong bedtime resistance can be. The child freezes in place like Fawn, hangs onto Mommy's neck like Koala, crouches and pounces like Tiger, and hops like Antelope, all of which contribute to the difficulties of winding down for sleep. Zunon mixes realistic portrayals of the human characters with more stylized depictions of the animals to highlight the role the child's imagination is playing. The gender-unspecified protagonist, wearing a footed red onesie with a back flap, helps all young listeners see themselves in these scenarios. A clever bedtime tale for stubborn, active, twenty-first-century kids.
Reviewer: Michelle H. Martin | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2020

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