Goodnight, Critters! Bedtime for Sweet Creatures by Nikki Grimes

NO!

It's almost bedtime and things are about to get beastly!

The lively toddler is in his pajamas, but he is NOT ready for bed.

Mama takes Bear to bed.

"He's going to be awfully lonely without you," says Mommy.

Growls come from his bed. Snaky sounds hiss from under the sheet. The not-sleepy toddler roars and shakes his mane, until a bedtime book appears. The not-sleepy sounds turn into a yawn as the pages are turned, and the recalcitrant kid curls up with a hug like a koala.

Is he finally down for the count? Nope. He soon shows up in the kitchen looking for an oasis of water and bounds away for the bathroom with the speed of a wildebeest. Finally, he's bedded down once again.

Suddenly, Mommy is tired, too. She's almost down for the count when she hears a whisper:

"CAN I SLEEP WITH YOU?"

The bed is going to be crowded with the toddler and his imaginary menagerie, in the award-winning Nikki Grimes latest story of the all-too-common bedtime resistance routine. But sleep will come for a tired toddler and his creatures at last in Grimes' Bedtime for Sweet Creatures (Sourcebooks/Jabberwocky, 2020). And with the humorously colorful critters conjured up by artist Elizabeth Zunon, a good night will be had by all. "A fabulous interpretation of an everyday battle." says School Library Journal.