Count the Sheep to Sleep

June 15, 2012
When a little girl has trouble falling asleep, she tries the age-old remedy of counting sheep in this wild and woolly bedtime countdown. The young narrator announces: "Last night I lay in bed / and found I couldn't sleep. / So I scrunched my eyes up tightly / and counted woolly sheep." Her countdown commences with 10 sheep leaping over a clothesline until one lands in a pair of undies, reducing the herd to nine. But as the remaining nine sheep glide on skateboards, one rolls away, leaving eight. Another vanishes in a cloud; another falls into a lion's cage; another sheep swings too high while disco dancing; another skids on a bar of soap; another loses balance surfing.... Finally, there's one survivor, who gives up and falls asleep. The repetitive, lilting cadence of the rhyming text alone should lull wee readers to sleep, while the hilarious mishaps of the dwindling sheep will surely provoke bedtime chuckles. Bold illustrations in neon yellows, reds, blues and greens rely on spiky, simple lines and shapes to showcase the dramatic, highly charged, almost surreal antics of these accident-prone sheep as they leap, skate, prance, balance, dance, glide, surf, float, trot and finally sleep across the double-page spreads. Check out these soporific sheep. (Picture book. 3-6)

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