Insomniac Owlet: "I'm Not Sleepy!" by Jonathan Allen

BABY OWL STAYED UP ALL NIGHT AS EVERY OWL DOES.

AND HE LOOKED VERY SLEEPY.

"BEDTIME FOR A SLEEPY BABY OWL," MAMA CALLED.

But Baby Owl grumps right back that he is NOT the least bit sleepy!

Sitting on the limb outside his tree hollow, Baby Owl stretches sleepily and Gray Squirrel observes that he surely looks sleepy, but he explains that he just strengthening his wings for the flying lessons coming soon. He settles back down on his limb and can't quite stifle a big yawn. Mouse notices and points out the fact that big yawns mean he's a sleepy little owl. Nope, Baby Owl insists that he's just finding his present company lacking in the excitement little owls need.

Mouse gives up and Baby Owl settles down again. Unfortunately, his eyelids creep shut and he begins to nod off, just as Woodpecker lands on the opposite side of the tree trunk and begins his morning drill.

"DRRRP!!!!!"

"WAAA!!!!"

Baby Owl is blasted awake. Woodpecker is apologetic, pleading that he had no idea there was a sleepy little owlet on the other side of that tempting tree trunk.

"I AM NOT SLEEPY!"

Baby Owl's shout of protest brings Papa Owl to check out the situation. Baby Owl is furious with everyone for telling him is supposed to be sleepy when he knows he's NOT.

But Papa, as always, knows what to do with an adamant little owl. When he proposes a storytime, Baby Owl snuggles right down.

"BUT MAKE IT A NICE LONG ONE BECAUSE I'M NOT AT ALL SL----"

And Papa Owl can't help smiling as Baby Owl finally goes quickly and gently into his version of that good night.

Jonathan Allen's newest book in his Baby Owl series, "I'm Not Sleepy!" (Hyperion, 2010) as just as endearing as its predecessors, I'm Not Scared!, I'm Not Cute!. and "I'm Not Santa!" Baby Owl is everyone's stubborn little toddler whose wise papa knows just the right words to soothe the situation. With an easy text, an incredibly cute main character, and adorable endpapers, this one is just right for a reluctant bedtime-goer's bedtime story.

Reading Riot: I'm Not Reading! by Jonathan Allen

BABY OWL HAD JUST OPENED HIS BOOK WHEN ALONG CAME BABY CHICK.

"MAY I LISTEN, TOO?"

"ALL RIGHT," SAID BABY OWL. BUT I'M NOT READING UNLESS YOU SIT QUIETLY LIKE OWLY,"

Owly, Baby Owl's plush toy owl, is a model of storytime decorum. Baby Chick obligingly settles himself down with equally excellent deportment, and Baby Owl opens the book.

But proper storytime order is not meant to be. First Baby Chick's sisters and brothers and then what seems to be dozens of cousins' invade the story circle, climbing all over Baby Owl, perching on his head, on his lap, and even on the book itself, chirping and flapping, pushing and shoving, and totally invading his space! Baby Owl tips over backward and Owly is buried in a mass of yellow fluff and beaks and wiggly little chick legs.

"HELP!"

This is not the proper way to listen to a story!

It sounds as if author Jonathan Allen must have made a few school visits and on at least one occasion had to face one of the toughest audiences in the world, the preschool story circle. His newest Baby Owl story, I'm Not Reading! (Boxer Books, 2013), recounts such a rowdy read-aloud event, with the audience proving to be overwhelming. Luckily for Baby Owl, Father and Mother Owl arrive in time to intervene and invoke the rules restoring proper story decorum, with Allen's strong-minded little hero finally in the driver's seat where he likes to be. The story gets read and all's well in the story circle at last, but Baby Owl and the rescued Owly are only too happy to say goodbye and settle down at home to let Daddy Owl do the reading to them.

Allen's stubborn little preschool protagonist gets the opportunity to see what it's like to be the one trying to enforce the rules in this humorous little story, and kids will giggle over the melee of fluff and squawks that result when the audience doesn't follow the rules and the message gets lost in the mayhem. This short and sweet story is best paired with others from this series such as Allen's tale of this adorable baby night owl in "I'm Not Sleepy!"  or his "I'm Not Cute!" and  I'm Not Ready! (Baby Owl).

"Sleep No More!" Good Night, Owl by Greg Pizzoli

OWL WAS SETTLED INTO BED WHEN HE HEARD A NOISE.

SQUEEK!

It's not loud. It's not unpleasant, actually. It's not even scary. But what IS it?

Somebody at the door? Exasperated, Owl puts on his robe and shuffles to the door.

Nobody.

Back in bed, he wills himself to drop off.

"GOOD NIGHT, OWL." HE SAYS TO HIMSELF.

SQUEEK!

Now the sound seems to be coming from below him. Relentlessly, Owl peers under his bed. Nothing. It must be coming from under the floor. Systematically, Owl begins to pry up the floorboards, one at a time. Still nothing.

By now Owl is more than perturbed. He lies down, but by now his ears are tuned to hear nothing but that sound.

SQUEEK!

It must be coming from the cupboard. Owl takes everything out. Nothing. His comfy bedroom is in chaos. But as soon as his head hits the pillow, he hears that sound again.

SQUEEK!!

It's coming from the roof! With a wild look in his eyes, Owl grabs a sledge hammer and begins to demolish his roof Now surely he has vanquished whatever is making that sound at last!

Or has he? Owl's cozy cottage is reduced to shambles and he is one wide-awake and no wiser owl, in Greg Pizzoli's newest anti-bedtime story, Good Night Owl (Hyperion Books, 2016). With his usual puckish humor, Pizzoli's charming illustrations reveal the cause of his crazed insomniac activity--a small brown mouse, sometimes seen peeping from behind the head board or under the bed, sometimes from a facing page, always out of sight for Owl. It's a mouse who seems to want no more than a cozy place to snooze, as is revealed in the final pages as he and Owl finally say good night from their bed under the stars.

We've all had the experience of settling down in bed, only to hear that one strange noise that we just can't quite ignore. Being naturally nocturnal, owls are often chosen for the role of "night owl" in picture books, and this Owl is no exception. In fact, in his obsessive search for the source of the mysterious sound, Owl's eyes take on a comic, slightly manic look.

Kids will get a good giggle out of the mouse's stealthy appearances all over Owl's bedroom and Owl's silly measures to find him, and they will be soothed, despite themselves, by that final "Good night, Owl."

Pizzoli's soft and flat pastel illustrations, set against muted nocturnal gray-green and gray-blue backgrounds, belie the feverish activities of poor Owl while adding a comforting sleepytime mood to this story, a different take on bedtime. Greg Pizzoli is the master of wry, ironic humor for the preschool set, as evidenced in his earlier award-winning smash, The Watermelon Seed, which answers that burning childhood question, what would happen if I swallowed a watermelon seed and it grew inside me, or that other compelling question, what would happen if I told my parents to leave me alone and they actually did, as in Pizzoli's Templeton Gets His Wish (read reviews here).

Pair this one for storytime or bedtime with that other sleep-resisting owl in Jonathan Allen's I'm Not Sleepy! (Baby Owl).

Getting to Goodnight! Chengdu Could Not, Would Not, Fall Asleep by Barney Saltzberg

IT WAS LATE AND IT WAS QUIET,

AND IN THE BAMBOO GROVE EVERYONE WAS SLEEPING...

EVERYONE EXCEPT CHENGDU.

Some kids refuse to go to sleep. That's not Chengdu's problem, but his parents aren't appreciative of his bedtime compliance. They might be, IF they were awake, which they're not.

No one in the family is awake except little Chengdu. He wants to go to sleep, but his eyes are wide open.

Perhaps a change in position will help. He tries hanging upside by all fours, like a sloth. It doesn't work. He tries hanging head down like a bat. No luck.

No position seems to work. Finally he climbs up the tree, looking for a more comfortable limb. But when he finds it, someone else has beat him to it--his brother Yuan.

Suddenly Chengdu's eyes want to close. He climbs on top of his brother Yuan... and falls asleep instantly.

But now Yuan is wide awake.

Despite its little insomniac panda, Barry Saltzberg's latest, Chengdu Could Not, Would Not, Fall Asleep (Hyperion Books, 2014) is a fine inducement to drifting off to dreamland for young sleep resisters. The illustrations, done on a textured paper in pencil, watercolor, with digital touches, use just a few colors--white, gray, black, and a soft but pleasing green, giving the dark scene a moonlit glow that is both pleasing and restful to the eye. Salzberg's engaging page design includes narrow pages increasing in size as Chendu ascends the tree and show off the little panda's sleepy time struggles perfectly, with just the touch of sibling humor at the end. For contrast, pair this one with Jonathan Allen's wide-awake little owl who protests I'm Not Sleepy! (See my review here.)

Night Shift: Little Owl's Night by Divya Srinivasan

LITTLE OWL WAS HAVING A WONDERFUL NIGHT.

The sun and Bear have already called it a day and the birds have gone to roost. But Little Owl is wide awake and ready to join the night shift in the forest.

No one is afraid of the dark here, as his nocturnal neighbors turn out to begin the swing shift. A mama 'possum waddles by with her babes in a row behind her.   Skunk is already breakfasting on some ripe berries. Hedgehog rumbles by, sniffing for 'shrooms. Beaver is up and at it, already busy at the building trade, the frog and cricket choir is warming up for a little night music, and Raccoon is ready to ramble.

There is a beautiful moon rising, and Little Owl longs to show it to his sleeping friend, but this Bear snores on! As Little Owl looks up at the starry sky, he wonders if Bear knows what he is missing.

At last Little Owl flies home, still thinking about what Bear never gets to see, but then he realizes that the daytime animals must see things that he is unaware of. Little Owl asks his mother:

"TELL ME HOW THE NIGHT ENDS," HE WHISPERS.

"THE STARS FADE TO GHOSTS," MAMA SAID. 

"SPIDERWEBS TURN TO SILVER THREADS. DEWDROPS SPARKLE ON GRASS LIKE TINY STARS COME DOWN. 

MORNING GLORIES OPEN... "

It is a poetic recital, but before Mama gets to the part about black skies brightening to blue, Little Owl is lost in dreamland, his shift done for this day, in Divya Srinavasan's new board book edition of Little Owl's Night (Viking Press, 2013), a flip-side bedtime story in which kids who may be afraid of the dark can experience what the nocturnal animals know, the music of the night. Set against shiny black pages, artist Srinavasan's stylized green and brown illustrations are eye-openers, seen through the Little Owl's large green eyes, and the author's lyrical storytelling does justice to the beauties of both day and nighttime.

Read this one last, following Jonathan Allen's sleepy-time priming I'm Not Sleepy! (Baby Owl).(See review here)

In the Still of the Night? Night Owl by Toni Yuly

NIGHT OWL LIKES TO STAY UP LATE.

HE HOOTS HELLO TO THE MOON.

Little Night Owl is out to prove his owl-hood as he flies fast from his hole in the tree to a branch by himself. He's a proper owl now, and he rules the night, right?

But there are a lot of sort-of spooky noises in the forest as the sun begins to set. Mommy must be near. But what's that loud hammering?

It's too fast for Mommy. It's just a woodpecker's rat-a-tat-tat. But what about that Tooooooot-toooooooot?

Mommy's hoot doesn't last that long! It must be a train, the evening special, coming through the twilight. But then there's a deep croak... croak. That's too low for Mommy's hoot. It's got to be a toad! Whew! So far, so good.

At last all is still. Night Owl is on top of the situation.

But then he hears a pitter-pattering sound on the dead leaves below!

THE SKY IS MAKING NOISES!

BOOM!

It's time to stop listening and starting flying. Night Owl switches attention to his big eyes that see so well in the dark. And what does he see ahead? His hole? His home! He swoops inside, folds his wings, and closes his eyes to listen for the one sound he really wants to hear, a soft Hoot-Hoot from Mommy Owl.

Toni Yuly's new Night Owl (Feiwel and Friends, 2015) is a masterpiece of simple lines and gorgeous deep nighttime color in a charming bedtime story that will make young would-be night owls appreciate their beds. Yuly's spare blackline drawing of her little hero humorously portray his attempts at bravado and his headlong flight for cover as the thunderstorm sends him home. Pair this one with Jonathan Allen's little sleepy-time holdout in his I'm Not Sleepy! (Baby Owl) (see review here) to get prospective little night owls into the proper nighttime-is-the-right-time snooze mood.