First Sleep-Over: Charley's First Night by Amy Hest

IT WAS SNOWING THAT NIGHT, AND CHARLEY WANTED ME TO CARRY HIM HOME.

SO I CARRIED HIM HOME IN MY OLD BABY BLANKET

Henry, a tow-headed Christopher Robin look-alike, is totally snockered with his new puppy. He carries him upstairs to show him his room and the cabinet where his mom thinks she hides his birthday presents.

Henry's parents start out with hard-nosed pet ownership rules: Henry does the feeding and dog-walking, and the cleaning up of dog puddles, and the putting-to-bed of Charley on the dog bed they make for him downstairs in the kitchen. Henry lay down with Charley so he wouldn't be afraid, and the tired pup falls asleep almost instantly with the company of Henry's teddy bear and his ticking alarm clock...

LIKE ANOTHER LITTLE HEARTBEAT IN THE NIGHT.

As instructed, Henry went up to his bed and fell asleep with thoughts of playing with Charley in the snow tomorrow. But he soon wakes up.

"DON'T CRY, CHARLEY. DON'T CRY!" THOUGHT HENRY AS HE RAN DOWNSTAIRS.

He picked Charley up and walked him around the house. He put him into his bed under the table and rubbed his back and scratched him behind his ears, and Charley fell asleep by the light of the moon.

"'NIGHT, CHARLEY," WHISPERED HENRY.

It was a long time, but then Henry woke up to the sound of Charley, crying plaintively downstairs in the moonlight.

CHARLEY WANTED ME TO PUT HIM IN MY BED.

I THOUGHT ABOUT WHERE MY MOTHER AND FATHER WERE PRETTY CLEAR ABOUT WHERE CHARLEY WAS NOT TO SLEEP.

WE DIDN'T MEAN TO FALL ASLEEP....

And on that last page of notable author Amy Hest's boy-and-his-dog classic, Charley's First Night (Candlewick Press), there's no doubt where Mom and Dad find Charley when the sun peeps into Henry's bedroom. With the admittedly charming (darling, sweet, heart-warming, lovable) characters in this book, created visually in the soft, pastel illustrations of the acclaimed picture book artist Helen Oxenbury, winner of Britain's Kate Greenaway Award (the English equivalent of our Caldecott Medal), this is a moving boy-and-dog story that is the essence of learning to love another creature.

Says School Library Journal, "From Charley's adorable face and poses to Henry's mother's reflection in a mirror as she looks at the pair asleep, the pictures have a timeless quality and beautifully complement the story."