by Moe Zilla

Created on: August 14, 2010

What's the first thing they tell you to do if you can't fall asleep? Count sheep, of course. But it takes a very cruel mother to suggest that to poor Little Bo Peep. Because, of course, she's lost her sheep, and doesn't know where to find them!

The book opens with a picture of the terrified little girl, her eyes wide open, with her blankets kicked into a mess. "She couldn't count her sheep, you see. She didn't know where they could be. She'd counted them in the meadow that day, just before they ran away." Yes, this story rhymes - just like the original nursery rhyme. And in another nod to the traditional characters, the story also features a special guest appearance by Little Boy Boy (who it turns out is Little Bo Peep's Brother.)

"'My sheep!' cried Peep to her brother, Blue.
Boy Blue replied, 'What did I do?'"

But of course, he'd come and blown his horn (since the sheep's in the meadow, the cow's in the corn.) In a humorous twist, the cows don't go anywhere - because their bellies are too full of corn. But the sheep all scamper off, leaving the poor little shepherdess to scramble after her herd. During the hunt, she even bumps into both Jack and Jill and the Farmer in the Dell.

Erin Dealey is a teacher in Northern California, and this was her first picture book. (Though she may have been inspired, since according to the book's jacket, author Erin Dealey "has spent many a sleepless night helping her daughter count sheep.) But her simple rhymes are complemented perfectly by the illustrations of Hanako Wakiyama. She uses bright pastel-colored oil paints to suggest the sunny mood of fairy-tale land. It really resembles the lavishly colored illustrations that you'd find in an old-fashioned book of nursery rhymes.

I like how the story winds past nearly every other famous fairy tale character. Humpty Dumpty, up on a wall, says he only sees some pigs - and the illustration shows three of them, chasing a wolf away from their brick house. And the troll under the bridge says he hasn't seen any sheep today - though he has, of course, seen a couple of pesky goats! One illustration even shows cows jumping over the moon. But eventually the sheep have found their way back home, and the book finds its way to a happy fairy tale-land ending.

"Moon shined brightly on the town, where Wee Willie Winkie ran up and down..."

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