Time for Bed

Darkness is falling everywhere and little ones are getting sleepy, feeling cozy, and being tucked in. It’s time for a wide yawn, a big hug, and a snuggle under the covers—sleep tight! “Working beautifully with the soothingly repetitive text, each painting conveys a warm feeling of safety and affection.”—School Library Journal

Publishers Weekly

Filling each spread, Dyer's (illustrator of the Piggins books and of Baby Bear's Bedtime Book ) commanding yet gentle, large-scale watercolors are the key to the appeal of this bedtime lullaby. Fox ( Possum Magic ; Guess What? ) offers sweet but slim verse that bids good night to a selection of animals being cuddled and coddled by their mothers, all endearingly rendered at eye-level. The rhymed couplets have a pleasantly lilting rhythm, if an occasionally trite rhyme scheme: ``It's time for bed, little sheep, little sheep, / The whole wide world is going to sleep.'' After viewing the various animals nodding off, youngsters will take their bedtime cue from a cherubic toddler, whose blond head falls into a pillow covered with golden stars as mother offers a hug and the text concludes: ``The stars on high are shining bright-- / Sweet dreams, my darling, sleep well . . . / good night!'' Ages 2-6. (Sept.)

MEM FOX is the author of many acclaimed books, including Possum Magic, Koala Lou, Time for Bed, and, for adults, Reading Magic: Why Reading Aloud to Our Children Will Change Their Lives Forever. She lives in Adelaide, Australia.

JANE DYER has illustrated many well-loved picture books, including Oh My Baby, Little One by Kathi Appelt, an ABA's Pick of the Lists and Parent's Choice Recommended Book, as well as the bestselling Time for Bed by Mem Fox. She lives with her family in Northampton, Massachusetts.