"Lights Out! Sweet Dreams!:" Five Little Monkeys Reading in Bed by Eileen Christelow

"IT'S BEDTIME FOR MONKEYS! NOW TURN OUT THE LIGHT." "OH, MAMA! OH, PLEASE! ONE MORE STORY TONIGHT!" BUT MAMA'S TOO TIRED. SHE'S READ MORE THAN FOUR. "LIGHTS OUT! SWEET DREAMS!" SHE CLOSES THE DOOR.

But there are lots of irresistible books left behind:

"IF MAMA WON'T READ IT, THEN MAYBE WE COULD!"

Five little monkeys take turns reading Where's That Puppy? First they weep and then they celebrate when the little lost puppy is found, bringing a grouchy Mama back to the door with a curt reminder: "What was it I said? No more reading in bed." But a scary ghost story beckons, and the monkeys can't resist making ghostly sounds to go along with the story, until something REALLY SCARY appears. It's MAMA, wearing bathrobe and slippers and a weary frown, and giving them a stronger still warning. But as the door closes firmly behind her retreating figure, one little monkey whispers:

"THAT STORY WAS SO CREEPY, I'LL NEVER BE SLEEPY."

And she has the perfect antidote to a ghost tale--a joke book. Soon the five little monkeys are trying vainly to stifle their snickers at the silliness until their giggles become a roar:

AND THEN CAN YOU GUESS WHO FLINGS OPEN THEIR DOOR?

Mama means business this time and to prove it she confiscates all their books and stomps out the door. But now the five little monkeys are too sleepy to protest and soon they are about to drift into dreamland at last when the sounds of weeping and then giggling from down the hall rouse them again. Of course, we can all guess who's reading in bed this time, and the five little monkeys finally get their turn to deliver that now famous line to Mama.

"OH, MAMA, WHAT WAS IT YOU SAID? LIGHTS OUT! SWEET DREAMS! NO MORE READING IN BED!"

Eileen Christelow's storytime simian siblings are at the top of their game in this eighth installment in her best-selling Five Little Monkeys series, the forthcoming Five Little Monkeys Reading in Bed (Clarion, 2011), a must-have bedtime story starring those irrepressible little monkeys. Christelow's trademark blackline and water-colored illustrations are exuberant, each of the five with a different expression and body language which provide lots of visual fun to fit with her fine versification. A not-to-be-missed story that puts in a plug for independent reading-- with even Mama unable to resist a good nighty-night tale and a promise that "tomorrow...we'll read more." To open and close the fun, Christelow's front endpapers feature the little monkeys reading everywhere--from the potty to the backyard swing--while her closing endpapers set the pace for snooze time with five snoring little ones surrounded by stars. A perfectly realized picture book! Kirkus Reviews also gives this one a thumbs-up: "Christelow's silly simians are just as bouncy as they ever were.... Reading promotion at its best, with a little bit of bad behavior to spice things up!"

Crunch Time! The Nuts: Bedtime at the Nut House by Eric Litwin and Scott Magoon

IT WAS TIME FOR BED, THE DAY WAS DONE.

BUT HAZEL AND WALLY WERE STILL UP AND HAVING FUN.

What else is new? Aren't all kids a little nuts at bedtime?

(Walnut) Wally and (Hazelnut) Hazel can't be bothered by (Chestnut) Mom and keep bouncing on their trampoline, singing

"WE'RE NUTS! WE'RE NUTS! WE'RE NUTS!"

Like all youngsters, they're happy to keep doin' what they're doin', full of wiggles and giggles and all kinds of inventive stalling activities--being "astronuts" ("Houston, we have a praline....") for the "Unnuted States", sailing the seas (on the liner "Titanut")--until Mama Nut eventually cracks down on her little nuts:

MAMA NUT GAVE THEM THE LOOK.

SHE MARCHED THEM UP TO BED AND TUCKED THEM IN TIGHT!

Bedtime is a tough nut to crack and in their nutty collaboration, best-selling author Eric Litwin and illustrator Scott Magoon's The Nuts: Bedtime at the Nut House (Little, Brown and Company, 2014), get down to the kernel of truth in the nightly battle of bedtime, that all little nuts need their rest. Litwin and Magoon crack wise with a few punny names to please slightly older readers and some silly visual jokes that will knock this target audience off their tree as well. Downloads are available of the book's own song for parents and little bedtime delayers, perhaps to lullaby all those little nuts to slumberland.

Pair this one with Sarah Maizes' saga of the queen of sleepytime procrastination, On My Way to Bed (see review here) or Jennifer Adams' Edgar Allan Poe parody, Edgar Gets Ready for Bed: A BabyLit®First Steps Picture Book (see my recent review here).

Night Life: Sleep Tight, Anna Banana! by Dominique Rogues

IT'S LATE AT NIGHT. ANNA BANANA IS STILL READING, EVEN THOUGH HER PARENTS SAID "LIGHTS OUT!"

Anna is lost in her book, but her plush compatriots are pooped. Her reading lamp is keeping them awake.

"WE'RE SLEEPY!" GRIPES GRIZZLER.

Anna suggests they close their eyes and keeps turning the pages. Foxfire tries to switch off the light, but she yanks him back by his tail without missing a single syllable. The rest of the plush pets try to sneak into a dark corner to get some shuteye. Anna Banana notices and retrieves her entourage rather roughly.

"ANNA LIKES TO HAVE ALL HER STUFFED ANIMALS AROUND HER!"

It's a banana republic in Anna's bedroom! Nobody sleeps till Anna sleeps, apparently.

But at last Anna begins to yawn and snuggle under her comforter. The reading lamp finally goes off with a welcome CLICK!... and so does Anna, drifting into dreamland almost instantly.

CLICK! BOING BOING BOING! HONK! HONK! BANG! THEY'RE OFF!

Her stuffed animals are out to give Anna Banana a little taste of her own medicine. They're ready to rumble! They're bouncing on the bed! They're ready to party hearty!

"ARE YOU NUTS?" SHOUTS ANNA.

Turn about is fair play, her plush pets say, pointing out that they are just taking a page from her book, so to speak. And at last Anna gets it.

"SORRY, MY LITTLE PEEPS!"SHE SAYS.

And it's a good night at last in Dominique Rogues' Sleep Tight, Anna Banana! (Roaring Brook Press, 2014). With a light-hearted lesson in doing unto others, artist Alexis Dermal's droll little plush peeps--Fuzzball, Foxface, Grizzler, Whaley, and the penguin PingPong--give readers plenty of punch lines to ponder in their thought bubbles as they struggle to get some zzzzs. It's a bedtime tale that leaves them laughing and hoping for more Anna Banana.

Up All Night!: Simpson's Sheep Won't Go to Sleep by Bruce Arant

FARMER SIMPSON WORKS ALL DAY.

HE PLANTS HIS CORN AND BEANS AND HAY.

EACH NIGHT BEFORE HE GETS HIS REST,

THE FARMER TRIES HIS VERY BEST

TO GATHER UP HIS FLOCK OF SHEEP 

AND TELL THEM THAT IT'S TIME TO SLEEP.

The good farmer's call for lights out works just fine with the rest of the barnyard.  Ducks quack softly and hens cluck quietly and then they are off to dreamland. Ditto for the cows and pigs. But the sheep, those folkloric icons of dreamland?  They are a different story.  There's no rest for the weary with this fretful flock.

THEY ALL HAVE EXCUSES WHY THEY CAN'T LIE DOWN, OR EVEN TRY.

THEY NEED A DRINK, THEY WANT A SNACK. THEY HAVE TO "GO," THEY LIKE TO YAK.

The sheep grumble and toss and turn. Their pasture grass is too wet, the ground is hard and lumpy, something doesn't smell so good! On and on and on. Farmer Simpson can't catch his forty winks because of his wakeful sheep's constant complaints. He staggers through his daytime chores, eyes half closed, and it's the same story every night.

But then, when he drags himself to town to get a birthday gift for his good wife, he sees something that just may solve his insomniac sheep problem. Soft fuzzy blankets--on sale! Anything for a good night's sleep, Simpson figures, and he brings the blankies home.

And it works--for "each cuddly lamb ... and ewe and ram."

How Farmer Simpson pulls the wool over his sheep's eyes at last is the rhyming plot of Bruce Arant's new sheepy-time tale, Simpson's Sheep Won't Go To Sleep! (Peter Pauper Press, 2013). Arant's verses are as lively as his  wide-awake flock, and the contrast of the sheep with their wide-eyed insomnia and the droopy-lidded farmer tell the tale with great good humor.  School Library Journal says "Parents will sympathize with Farmer Simpson, and children will totally understand where the sheep are coming from. Great fun for everyone!"

Can't Help It! I Dare You Not To Yawn by Helene Boudreau and Serge Bloch

YAWNS ARE SNEAKY.

THERE YOU ARE, MINDING YOUR OWN BUSINESS, BUILDING THE TALLEST BLOCK TOWER IN THE HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSE... WHEN SUDDENLY...

YOUR MOUTH OPENS WIDE, YOUR TONGUE CURLS BACK, AND ... mmmm-MMM.

Yawns are known to be infectious, even when you're not even sleepy. But the yawn is not the problem. As every kid comes to know, at a certain time at night parents are on red alert for any signs that a kid might be ready for bedtime.

That's when it is important to stifle even the thought of a yawn--at all costs. A simple yawn means getting the bum's rush through bath and tooth-brushing, pajamas and bedtime stories, goodnight hugs, and--Geez Louise! The next thing you know, it's LIGHTS OUT. There you are, eyes wide open, lying there in a dark room and wondering "How did I get here?"

Bedtime avoidance strategies are complex, but any savvy nighty-night veteran soon learns the ropes. Avert your gaze if your baby brother or dog begins to yawn. Those things are contagious! Keep your distance from fuzzy stuffed animals, especially any with which you have been known to sleep! No sheepy sleepy-time tunes either. And watch out for any song that Mom used to use to sing you to sleep when you were little! Look deeply engaged, keep a low profile, and...Good luck!

Helene Boudreau's newest, I Dare You Not to Yawn (Candlewick, 2013), wisely makes a wary bedtime avoidance champ the narrator of this little mock cautionary tale, and veteran picture book artist Serge Bloch contributes his truly comic talents to those funny illustrations which take this story over the top. Cagey parents will do well to make this one part of their bedtime routine and yawn a lot while they read it!

In the Forest of the Night:... Sleep Like A Tiger by Mary Logue

ONCE THERE WAS A LITTLE GIRL WHO DIDN'T WANT TO GO TO SLEEP.

SHE TOLD HER MOTHER, "I'M NOT TIRED."

SHE TOLD HER FATHER, "I'M JUST NOT SLEEPY."

Uneasy lies the head that wears this crown. Our princess is simply too busy to go to bed. She rides her scooter; she plays with her stuffed tiger and his friends and protests that she's not going to sleep.

The royal parents nod their crowned heads as they offer her favorite doll and The Little Prince for a bedtime read, but the princess protests that she is  wide awake.

Wisely, the king and queen opt for gradualism.

HER PARENTS SAID THAT WAS FINE.

BUT SHE HAD TO PUT HER PAJAMAS ON.

SHE SHOULD WASH HER FACE AND BRUSH HER TEETH.

IT FELT GOOD.

"DOES EVERYONE IN THE WORLD GO TO SLEEP?" SHE ASKED.

The royal couple nod and describe how their dog and cat are snoozing already. The Princess doesn't give up that easily. She cites bats, who fly at night. The King and Queen agree, but point out that bats fold their wings and snooze all day. The Princess persists, asking about whales and snails, bears and--the tiger:

"HE FINDS SOME SHADE AND SLEEPS.
THAT WAY HE STAYS STRONG"

Reassuring the Princess that she can stay awake if she chooses, her parents leave her alone with her thoughts of slumbering creatures. Her crisp sheets are like a nest, cozy as her dog's couch, warm as the cat snoozing before the fire. Soon she is drifting into sleepiness like the whale, hanging it up like the bats, slipping into sleepiness like the hibernating bear, and so, lying down with the warm sleeping tiger...

... FELL FAST ASLEEP.

Mary Logue's lyrical narrative soothes, but Pamela Zagarenski's illustrations take this little royal bedtime tale into the lands of dreams with startlingly beautiful surreal illustrations that the poet William Blake might have envied. Zagarenski's princess is both real child and stubbornly iconic bedtime resister, and her tiger morphs from plush toy to sleeping majesty in a way that seems only natural in the sweep of this gorgeous picture book. Zagarenski's endpapers tell it all, with the opening spread offering a gigantic yellow sun illuminating a white tiger on top of the boxcar of a disjointed train on its way to the closing endpapers which show  a tower window with the Princess asleep with her toy tiger, with the white tiger still riding that night train under a silver moon inscribed "Tiger, tiger, burning bright, in the forest of the night."

Pamela Zagarenski received a 2013 Caldecott Honor Award for her collaboration with Mary Logue on Sleep Like a Tiger (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013). As the Washington Post's reviewer writes, "Set against Caldecott Honor medalist Pamela Zagarenski's gloriously soft-toned dreamscapes of moons and stars and toys and towns, the lyrical text magnifies the magical mood."

Sleep Hearty, Ye Buckos! Charlotte Jane Battles Bedtime by Myra Wolfe

I LIKE TO GET ALL THE JUICE OUT OF MY DAY," CHARLOTTE JANE WOULD SAY.

BUT BEDTIME WAS NOT JUICY.

"NO ONE CAN BE HEARTY WITHOUT IT," SAID HER MOTHER.

CHARLOTTE JANE DID NOT AGREE.

ONE DARK NIGHT SHE DIDN'T GO TO BED AT ALL.

But although the swashbuckling Charlotte Jane would like to celebrate sending bedtime to the bottom of the briny, her morning doesn't dawn with as much oomph as usual. Her customary breakfast of cackle fruit doesn't tempt her. Cutlass competition with her bear, One-Eyed Tom, is, shall we say, dull. Treasure hunts are, well, a yawn, and Fantastic Feats of Derring-Do are a snooze.

"ARR!" SAID CHARLOTTE JANE. "MY OOMPH'S WEIGHED ANCHOR."

Aye, her swashbuckling style has sailed. Her pirating parents offer to mount a mission to find her oomph. But it's definitely not in the bathtub or linen closet. It's not to be found in the fridge and nowhere in the neighbor's recycling bin. Charlotte Jane wearily climbs the suddenly steep steps to her room in the fo'c'sle to search for her juicy joie de vivre.

AND THERE WAS HER FEATHERBED.

BEDTIME WAS NOT JUICY. SLEEP WAS FOR LANDLUBBERS.

BUT DREAMS...

CHARLOTTE JANE'S DREAMS...

...WERE RIP-ROARERS!

All's well that sleeps well, and with a good night's rest under her buccaneer's belt, Charlotte Jane finds her oomph restored in Myra Wolfe's bodacious debut book, Charlotte Jane Battles Bedtime (Harcourt, 2011), forthcoming September 6. This is a hearty corsairing bedtime tale, bejeweled with artwork by Maria Moneschillo, whose stylized seafaring illustrations sets our jibs just right to catch the wind. It seems we can never have too many pirate yarns in the picture book market, and this one, perhaps paired with Andrew Kramer's Pajama Pirates (recently reviewed here) will help young pirates get their YARR-YARRS out without too many bedtime battles. A sleepy-time treasure!

Swing Shift: Chicks Run Wild by Sudipta Bardhan-Quillen

PILLOWS FLUFFED UP BENEATH THEIR HEADS,

CHICKS ARE TUCKED BENEATH THE SHEETS.

"GO TO SLEEP, NOW" MAMA TWEETS.

It's a sweet nighttime scene in Mama's snug coop. With a loving kiss for each of her five little peeps, the lights go off and she closes the door. Ahhh! At last! her body language says.

All of us parents have been there. After a hard day of this and that, the little dears are at last tucked in, and a few hours of freedom beckon.

But Mama has counted her chickees all too soon.

As it happens, Mama is ready for their bedtime, but the five little peeps are not. As soon as she gets down the hall, bedlam erupts. The chicks jump on the beds, fill the air with fluff from their pillow fights, and generally have a rousing play time on the night shift.

Of course, their clandestine cavorting cannot go unnoticed. Mama is soon back at the door, wings on whatever passes for chicken hips, with her beak pressed tight in disapproval. At first she tries being firm. But as soon as she closes the door, the fun begins again. She tries threats; she delivers an ultimatum. Still the chicks won't stay in their beds.

But two can play at this game. After all, who's the adult around here? Mama can beat them at their own game, and bringing on the rockin' music, she joins them in the merriment, leading them in one wild--and seemingly unending--chicken dance! Soon their little chick tongues are handing out of their little beaks, and the young ones cave in.

THE CHICKS FALL TO THEIR KNEES.

MOANING "BEDTIME, MAMA, PLEASE!"

Sudipta Bardhan-Quillen's brand-new Chicks Run Wild (Simon & Schuster, 2011), with its rounded, big-eyed chicks looking more like Easter candies that anything, are filled with frolicsome and infectious energy, topped only when Mama gets down with a high-spirited chicken dance that has them all puffing to keep up. But in Ward Jenkins' effervescent illustrations, Mama gets the last laugh, as she finally settles down on the sofa for some post-bedtime "Mama-time," her TV show onscreen and her half-read book at hand, and some bright nail polish ready for a pedicure.

A non-bedtime bedtime story, this tale is best read for laughs during the day, because it certainly won't put anybody to sleep!

Bedtime Buccaneers: Pajama Pirates by Andrew Kramer

THE MOON BEGINS ITS EVENING SHOW.
PAJAMA PIRATES YELL, "OH, NO!"

LET OTHERS SLEEP;
THEIR DAY IS DONE.
THE TREASURE HUNT HAS JUST BEGUN.

Three kids are ready for bed in their tower bedchamber, pajamas on and beds turned down, but they are definitely not ready for sleep. It's time to escape into their own fantasy adventures, pirates all!

The braided rug morphs into ocean waters, their beds become rowboats, and their brooms become oars, as the three row out to their waiting ship to begin their night's adventures.

And what adventures their imaginations afford them! A nearing ship turns out to be a marauder's man o' war and the attack is on. Cannons roar, swords flash; and it doesn't go well for the pajama pirates.

"YE BE SHARK BAIT, SWIM OR SINK!"
PAJAMA PIRATES STOP TO THINK.

Quickly the youngsters cover their shattered mast with their mainsail, and in the fog the pursuing privateers perceive a giant ghost advancing on them and begin to retreat in terror.

Just as the pajama pirates batten their hatches, hoist anchor, and pull away from their foes, they hear the dreaded order to go to sleep floating up from downstairs.

"JUST FIVE MINUTES MORE, PLEASE!"

But there's nothing for it except for the pajama pirates to walk the plank, as their seven seas become the sky and their ship again becomes their room, and one by one they fall into their own waiting beds.

"G'NIGHT, MATEYS! SURE WAS FUN!"

Andrew Kramer's latest, Pajama Pirates (Harper, 2010) features easy-reading verse in a charming fantasy adventure for pirate fans. The text is greatly extended by the delightful illustrations of Leslie Lammle, done with plenty of deep blues to suggest the nighttime setting, and rounded childlike figures which suggest the work of author-illustrators Astrid and Ingrid Lindgren of earlier times, giving the book a pleasant old-fashioned feeling. A fine bedtime story for imaginative young buccaneers who are not quite ready for sweet dreams.

Nighty-Night: A Bedtime for Bear by Bonnie Becker

Everything had to be just so for Bear's bedtime.

The glass of water had to sit on the exact right spot on his nightstand.

His favorite pillow must be nicely fluffed.

The nightcap needed to be snug.

Most of all it had to be quiet--very, VERY quiet.

Bear is clearly set for a quiet evening. Slippers on feet, feet on footstool, an afghan across his legs, and a book balanced on his ample belly, Bear is seated in his easy chair before his cheery fire, ready for a cozy read.

TAP. TAP. TAP. TAP.

Bear glares in the direction of the offending door knocker. A visitor? Visitors usually mean mess and noise! Who could it be?

Well, who else on his doorstep but a mouse, small and gray and bright-eyed--with his little red valise, obviously anticipating a sleepover.

Bother! Was it tonight he invited Mouse to sleep over? But then Mouse did remember his birthday, so perhaps he is right. Tonight is the night.

Bear settles down with Mouse to a companionable game of checkers and after sharing mugs of warm cocoa, it’s time for the sleep-over friends to turn in. Bear prepares Mouse a comfy bed, pulling out the top drawer of his bedside table and providing a pillow and a blue blanket. Then he lays down the ground rules:

“REMEMBER, I MUST HAVE ABSOLUTE QUIET,” reminded Bear.

But Mouse can’t quite meet Bear’s standards.

“Bristle, Bristle, Bristle,” goes mouse’s little toothbrush. “Hmmm, hum-pa, pummmm,” he hums as he pulls on his nightshirt. “ ”Good night,” he calls, just as Bear has decided it’s safe to close his eyes..

“MY EARS ARE VERY SENSITIVE!” cried Bear.

“Really. How interesting!” said Mouse..... Mouse slipped from his bed, went into the closet, and said in the tiniest possible voice into the farthest, darkest teeniest possible corner of the closet...

“Surely you can’t . . .

“WILL THIS TORMENT NEVER CEASE!" roared Bear. “SILENCE”

“Sorry, Bear. Good night.” whispered Mouse.

At last it’s quiet enough for Bear to sleep. But he can’t. There are strange noises in his bedroom, rustly, low moany noises. “I know it’s YOU, Mouse,” he says softly, but Mouse is deep in dreamland. There's that sound again. At last Bear can’t bear his fears alone.

“WAKE UP, MOUSE!”

As always, Mouse knows just what to do to calm Bear's anxiety. Pretending to be frightened himself, he peers under the bed and under the curtains, and at last asks Bear to tell him a soothng bedtime story that finally sends both of them off to dreamland.

Ably assisted by Kady MacDonald Denton's cozy watercolor and gouache illustrations, Bonny Becker’s latest Bear and Mouse story, A Bedtime for Bear (Bear and Mouse) (Candlewick, 2010, with its quiet, wry humor and subtle interplay between this odd couple of two very different friends, is a gentle joy.

Bear and Mouse, best friends forever!