Sleep, Black Bear, Sleep
Jane Yolen, Heidi E. Stemple, Heidi E.y. Stemple, Brooke Dyer (Illustrator), Heidi E. Y. StempleBooks.org participates in affiliate programs including Bookshop.org and the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. We may earn a commission from qualifying purchases made through links on this page, at no additional cost to you.
Overview
When winter's snow creates a soft blanket of silence, nothing is more comforting than curling up under a cozy quilt. Whether slumber awaits in a warm bed, a rocking hammock, or a nest of leaves, the feeling of comfort and the infinite world of dreams are universal.
This reassuring lullaby will calm any child to sleep, while Brooke Dyer's gentle illustrations show that the little details in everyone's niche truly make a place into a home.
Synopsis
When winter's snow creates a soft blanket of silence, nothing is more comforting than curling up under a cozy quilt. Whether slumber awaits in a warm bed, a rocking hammock, or a nest of leaves, the feeling of comfort and the infinite world of dreams are universal.
This reassuring lullaby will calm any child to sleep, while Brooke Dyer's gentle illustrations show that the little details in everyone's niche truly make a place into a home.
Publishers Weekly
Dyer (Mama Always Comes Home), herself the daughter of illustrator Jane Dyer, joins the mother-daughter team of Yolen and Stemple (previously paired for The Salem Witch Trials) to celebrate the joys of a long, cozy wintertime snooze. With a sleeping human child as the framing character, the authors visit the homes of 12 hibernating, pleasingly anthropormorphized animals. (The final page reveals that all the animals have a corresponding stuffed toy representative on the child's bed.) Each gets its own lullaby-like verse. For a girly skunk asleep in her boudoir, the authors write, "Snore, little skunk, snore,/ Turn over, snore some more./ The winter winds may howl and wail;/ Your den is closed with snow and hail./ But you know spring will never fail./ Snore, little skunk, snore." Dyer's consistently adorable watercolors especially stand out when she finds comic inspiration in the hallmark qualities of her animal cast. A beaver sleeps in a hard hat, surrounded by blueprints for next year's dams; the normally frenetic chipmunk snoozes in a track suit, gripping the shoestrings of his running shoes. Sweet and warmly comforting, this is the picture book equivalent of a cup of hot cocoa. Ages 2-6. (Feb.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
Editorials
Publishers Weekly
Dyer (Mama Always Comes Home), herself the daughter of illustrator Jane Dyer, joins the mother-daughter team of Yolen and Stemple (previously paired for The Salem Witch Trials) to celebrate the joys of a long, cozy wintertime snooze. With a sleeping human child as the framing character, the authors visit the homes of 12 hibernating, pleasingly anthropormorphized animals. (The final page reveals that all the animals have a corresponding stuffed toy representative on the child's bed.) Each gets its own lullaby-like verse. For a girly skunk asleep in her boudoir, the authors write, "Snore, little skunk, snore,/ Turn over, snore some more./ The winter winds may howl and wail;/ Your den is closed with snow and hail./ But you know spring will never fail./ Snore, little skunk, snore." Dyer's consistently adorable watercolors especially stand out when she finds comic inspiration in the hallmark qualities of her animal cast. A beaver sleeps in a hard hat, surrounded by blueprints for next year's dams; the normally frenetic chipmunk snoozes in a track suit, gripping the shoestrings of his running shoes. Sweet and warmly comforting, this is the picture book equivalent of a cup of hot cocoa. Ages 2-6. (Feb.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.Children's Literature -
Beginning with a gentle exhortation to "Sleep, little one, sleep," this peaceful picture book then takes readers on a tour of underground burrows, dens, and caves, and the hibernating or slumbering animals who shelter there from winter's cold and snow. Wittily anthropomorphized animals—from the bats who hang like trapeze artists over a circus net, to the gopher who awaits spring far underground with his gardening implements by his side—all settle in for a long winter's snooze. Some, like the badger and the toad, seem to owe a debt to The Wind in the Willows, but for the most part readers will enjoy perusing the illustrations to figure out the meaning of the clever props surrounding the various creatures. The rhyming text, which closely mirrors the rhythm and structure of the classic lullaby "Sleep, baby, sleep / Thy papa guards the sheep," adeptly introduces each animal, while its songlike rhythm soothes young listeners. The meter does change near the end as the attention turns not surprisingly to a young human child: "And even you, it's time for sleep, / So snuggle down and burrow deep." All in all, text and pictures combine to create an effective opportunity for winter bedtime cuddles.School Library Journal
PreS-Gr 1In this musical whisper of a book, various animals settle down for a winter's nap, assured that spring will wake them to reenter the warmer, more active world. Each page features a lullaby with language quirky enough to raise a smile-for instance: "Snore, little skunk, snore,/Turn over, snore some more./The winter winds may howl and wail;/Your den is closed with snow and hail./But you know spring will never fail./Snore, little skunk, snore." Complementing the comfort and reassurance of the text are Dyer's cozy and humorous illustrations. Frog cuddles up under a leaf-patterned comforter, warmed by her pink-striped scarf. Her ice skates are poised at the bedpost and her figure-skating trophy decorates the text on the opposing page. Badger, dressed like Sherlock Holmes, sneaks in some reading with his magnifying glass as he rests by a roaring fire in his underground den. Dyer deftly inserts details of pattern and personality using gentle, appealing colors. The painting of chipmunk snoozing in his running suit, surrounded by sneakers, is a hoot. The culmination of the book, on a blue background that might be flecked with snow or with stars, is, aptly, a message to children: "And even YOU, it's time for sleep,/So snuggle down and burrow deep./The sheet and quilt will keep you warm/Through winter or through summer storm/Till you awaken in the morn./Sleep, my little child, sleep." Soothing, soporific, and magnetic, this is a special winter bedtime book.—Susan Weitz, formerly at Spencer-Van Etten School District, Spencer, NY
Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.