Go Sleep in Your Own Bed!: Candace Fleming & Lori Nichols
May 23, 2017
Book: Go Sleep in Your Own Bed!
Author: Candace Fleming
Illustrator: Lori Nichols
Pages: 40
Age Range: 3-7
I thought that Go Sleep in Your Own Bed! would be one of those books designed to encourage kids to, well, sleep in their own beds, instead of with Mom and Dad. But if that is the point that Candace Fleming is trying to make, she has an unusually subtle approach. Instead, Go Sleep in Your Own Bed is a silly tale in which a succession of animals each attempts to go to bed, finds someone else in the bed, kicks out said someone else, and then goes to sleep. Then we proceed to the next page spread, where that kicked out animal also finds his or her bed taken. This structure is repeated half a dozen times. There is a mild surprise at the end when the final animal is offered the choice to sleep in someone else's bed.
What made this book work for me was Fleming's use of apt descriptive language. Like this:
"Oh, w-w-w-h-o-o-o-a is me," whickered Horse.
And he shambled to his stable, cloppety-plod.
But when he settled down--
Mehhhhh!
Who do you think he found?
(next page)
"Get up!"
whinnied Horse.
"Go sleep in your
own bed!"
For a book with so little text, those are some great descriptive words. "Whickered", "shambled", "clopety-plod". And of course there is a hint in "Mehhhhh" about what the next animal is going to be. Vocabulary-building and read-aloud friendly!
Lori Nichols' illustrations add humor on every page, from chicken feathers flying everywhere when the chickens try to evict a horse to the expression of righteous indignation on the face of the horse when he finds a sheepish sheep in his bed. She also includes visual hints of what the next animal will be (e.g. a bunch of shaggy wool that looks like a mop, in the above example), making it more fun for younger listeners to guess the next animal. She uses dim backgrounds throughout, and closes the book with a cozy nighttime scene perfect for saying "Goodnight" to young listeners.
Go Sleep in Your Own Bed! is a comforting bedtime read, perfect for preschoolers. There's enough interesting vocabulary to keep primary listeners engaged, too, and enough silliness that it could also work as part of a farm sounds unit for a school or library storytime. Definitely worth a look, for libraries and families! Recommended!
Publisher: Schwartz and Wade (@RandomHouseKids)
Publication Date: May 2, 2017
Source of Book: Review copy from the publisher
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