by Moe Zilla

Created on: March 14, 2010

"Come, little one. The day is done.
Sleep spins a web, delicate and strong,
To cradle you.
To cradle you..."

There's a beautiful illustration of brilliant spiderweb, shimmering with dewdrops, against a rich green background. Then a
twilight sky fading from purple to pink as the sun sets on two wild gerbils - one of them yawning in the sunlit grass under a shadowy tree. And Newberry Honor-winning author Marion Dane Bauer attempts the perfect poetry for a lavishly illustrated bedtime book. "Sleep nibbles the last crumbs of day. Don't scare it off..."

Every page is a visual treat, showing different animals readying for the night. A robin tells its youngling that sleep "gathers you beneath its feathery wings. Safe and warm." And a puppy tells its brother, "Sleep nuzzles your cheek, licks your pearly ear. Feel its warm breath..." As the pages turn, the night gets darker, and soon it's a deep purple sky with just a narrow band of peachy pink, highlighting the silhouettes of cactus plants. Now the animal is a giant tortoise, with his own sleepy verse.

"Be patient. Sleep will come, trudging closer, closer, careful and slow..."

Much of the beauty of the book comes from the rich illustrations by JoEllen McAllister Stammen. She created "dry pastel" drawings on a dark grey pastel paper (according to the book's title page). The colors and details became much stronger and more vivid when the drawings were compressed for the pages of the book. Each page is filled with her colorful animal pictures, and the gentle text about animals preparing for night.

"Sleep is wooly. Sleep is warm. It grazes softly around your bed..."

There's a cheetah stalking in the night. ("Sleep creeps on velvet paws...") And a horse standing in a stable. ("Sleep...stamps, stamps, stirs the dust.") The only real story is in the progress of the night itself - and the growing awareness that nearly all the animals, everywhere, are using nighttime to sleep. "Sleep holds you tight in its furry dark," reads the text by a polar bear.

"Hugs you close. Hugs you close..."

I think any child would love this book. The pictures are rich and magical, and there's plenty of animals throughout the book, each one drawn with loving detail. I think parents would like this book for the same reason - for the obvious quality and care that went into it. And its gentle text just might be able to lull your own younglings off to sleep.

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