Russell the Sheep [Hardcover]

Rob Scotton (Author, Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 12, 2005 | Age Level: 3 and up | Grade Level: P and up

This is Russell.

Sometimes Russell is just a little bit out of step with the rest of the flock.

All the sheep are falling asleep -- except Russell.

What's a sheep to do?

Russell tries everything ... until, at last, he falls asleep.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

PreSchool-Grade 1–Russell can't sleep. While the other sheep are dozing off, he ponders the problem of insomnia. Is he too hot or too cold? Perhaps a better place would help. When nothing works, he tries counting things. He starts with his feet, and then moves on to the stars ("six hundred million billion and ten")–twice. Finally, the quintessential cliché comes to him, and he counts sheep. Russell nods off just as the new day dawns and the others awaken. Scotton makes a captivating debut with this comical tale. He illustrates it with a witty, engaging, and fluffy character bathed in calming blue hues. With his wide-eyed, startled expression; froggy sidekick; and animated, blue-and-white-striped nightcap, Russell will win the hearts of readers, who will want to look at the pictures over and over to catch all the clever detail.–Be Astengo, Alachua County Library, Gainesville, FL
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Library Binding edition.

From Booklist

Pres-Gr. 1. Russell is one wide-awake sheep. When the sky grows dark and the other sheep in Frogsbottom Field drift into slumbers, Russell's eyes ("BOING!") are wide open. It's not for lack of trying: he pulls a nightcap over his eyes, removes his wool, and uses a pillow. He tries different locations: a rusty car, a hollow tree, a high branch. And counting things: his legs, the stars, and finally (yawn) sheep. Even young children will relate to Russell's predicament in this simple, satisfying story told with economy and illustrated with wit. The artwork, in a cool palette of muted blues, greens, and grays, is subtle and pleasing. But the real fun here is in the details, from the fat sleeping sheep with their skinny legs pointing skyward to the small, expressive changes in Russell's round eyes. A droll bedtime read-aloud that will amuse those listening as well as those reading Carolyn Phelan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 3 and up
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins; First Edition edition (April 12, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060598484
• ISBN-13: 978-0060598488
• Product Dimensions: 10.3 x 10.2 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (44 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #183,999 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Rob Scotton is the author and illustrator of the bestselling Russell the Sheep and Russell and the Lost Treasure. His work can also be found on greeting cards, ceramics, textiles, prints, stationery, and glassware. An honors graduate of Leicester Polytechnic, Rob now lives in Rutland, England, with his wife, Liz, who is also an artist.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Of Sheep and Sleep, October 22, 2005

By 

M. Allen Greenbaum (California) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Russell the Sheep (Hardcover)

Rob Scotton delivers the goods in this funny kids' book about a sheep that can't sleep. While the resolution is somewhat predictable (he counts sheep) and puzzling (why is it that when he remembers to count himself, he falls asleep?), the book is filled with clever humor and enough visual delights to entertain both children and adults. The book shows many sources of insomnia, and approaches them with a reassuring tone, as well as very witty illustrations.

Scotton gives his sheep distinctive, quirky characters, and human-like habits. At night, one brushes his or her teeth, and another holds a teddy bear, and many of them fall asleep upside down (wool side up?), all four legs sticking straight up, and with nothing but patchwork quilts to cover them. All except, big-eyed Russell (looking a bit like Gromit the dog, another British import). Oh, how he struggles to sleep-each new solution brings its own unexpected problem: Perhaps it's too light, he reasons, but when he pulls his hat over his eyes, "the really dark scared him." He takes off his wool (!) jammies, thinking that "perhaps I'm just too hot," but the next vignetted picture shows him shivering away. He uses his friend the frog as a pillow, "but the pillow hopped away...hopping mad!" Like a child who attributes the insomnia to something external rather than internal, Russell looks for a better bedroom, outside his home of Frogsbottom Field. He discovers an alliterative list of adjectival objections: The uncovered trunk (completely safe, by the way) is too "cramped," the inside of a tree (filled with bats) is "too creepy," and the branch of a tree is "too crowded" with owls. (He's also too heavy for the branch, but Scotton's aim is fun, not physics.

He thought hard about what to do next. "In fact, he thought so hard his hat went ziggy-zaggy!" He begins to count his neighbor sheep. The humorous pictures are nice models for kids, showing that there is no one right way to sleep, even for sheep! One has a teddy bear, one sleeps upside down, a few sleep sheep to sheep, and one even sheep-walks! When he counts the tenth sheep--himself-he "felt a tickle, then a twitch, and then... sound asleep." IN fact, when the other sheep wake up and get ready for the new day, sipping coffee, showering, putting dentures in, reading the paper-Russell is a soundly sleeping sheep.

Scotton's soft shades of blue and green provide a soothing background for the big-eyed, naive looking sheep. The illustrations are uncluttered, and as mentioned above, Russell's expressive Gromit-like eyebrows (Gromit is the dog in the "Wallace and Gromit" animations) are non-verbal triumphs. Scotton's expressive sheep characters and the overall design book design draw you into his story. While the denouement could have been a bit stronger, this is an entertaining first effort from Scotton.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars toni- Cincinnati, October 1, 2005

By 

Antoinette Pragalos (Loveland, Ohio USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Russell the Sheep (Hardcover)

Great illustrations! All my children enjoy the book. It is fun for my 6 year old and short enough to keep the attention of my 3 year old. We read it just before bed and the storyline is perfect to help them get to sleep by counting sheep. The pictures are great and the story is overall just "cute" and fun to follow.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars too cute, May 24, 2005

By 

Melissa Sack (georgia) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Russell the Sheep (Hardcover)

Russell is a sheep who just can't seem to fall asleep one night. He tries everything from counting the stars to locating the perfect sleeping spot. Nothing works for him. That is until he decides to count sheep! This works and Russell is finally asleep. By this time it's morning and all the other sheep are ready to start their day!

The cartoon like illustrations are full of detail. Lots for little eyes to llok at while the story is being read!
We would recommend this book to others. We feel that the book will entertain children in a wide variety of age groups. There is a little green frog that shows up though out the book. It's fun to discover what the will be up to next!