Sheep Don't Count Sheep [Hardcover]

Margaret Wise Brown (Author), Benrei Huang (Illustrator)

Book Description

Sleep, little lamb, and dream your dream.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

PreSchool-Grade 2-Brown's mellifluous prose tells of a mother sheep trying to lull her little lamb to sleep. Awakened by a ladybug flying by, a horse jumping, and a grasshopper hopping, the lamb asks his mother how he can fall asleep with all these distractions. Mother sheep advises him to, "Count butterflies fluttering past your closed eyes till you fall asleep,- little sleepy sheep." The stylized illustrations rendered in watercolor and colored pencil are large and appealing. Green, purple, and orange hues dominate the landscape. The story opens and closes with a melodious lullaby composed especially for Brown's lyrics. The musical score is printed on the last page. Use this one along with Mem Fox's Time for Bed (Harcourt, 1993) and Brown's Goodnight Moon (HarperCollins, 1947) for a perfect pajama storytime.
Be Astengo, Alachua County Library, Gainesville, FL
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

PreS. In this picture book, a little lamb lies down with his mother and tries to sleep, but the activity in the meadow around him keeps him awake. After his mother advises him to close his eyes and count butterflies, he dozes off. The rhythmic, rhyming six-line verse that begins and ends the book works well, but when the text lapses into prose in the middle, the transition is awkward. The writing is not vintage Brown, though it has echoes of her better works. Simple piano music for the poem "Sleep, Little Lamb" appears at the end of the book. Huang contributes beautiful double-page spreads composed with cozy forms and harmonious colors, making this an eye-catching bedtime book. For larger libraries or those who want their Brown collections complete. Carolyn Phelan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books; 1 edition (March 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0689833466
• ISBN-13: 978-0689833465
• Product Dimensions: 11.3 x 8.8 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #592,711 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Margaret Wise Brown wrote hundreds of books and stories during her life, but she is best known for Goodnight Moon and Runaway Bunny. Even though she died over 45 years ago, her books still sell very well. Margaret loved animals. Most of her books have animals as characters in the story. She liked to write books that had a rhythm to them. Sometimes she would put a hard word into the story or poem. She thought this made children think harder when they are reading. She wrote all the time. There are many scraps of paper where she quickly wrote down a story idea or a poem. She said she dreamed stories and then had to write them down in the morning before she forgot them. She tried to write the way children wanted to hear a story, which often isn't the same way an adult would tell a story. She also taught illustrators to draw the way a child saw things. One time she gave two puppies to someone who was going to draw a book with that kind of dog. The illustrator painted many pictures one day and then fell asleep. When he woke up, the papers he painted on were bare. The puppies had licked all the paint off the paper. Margaret died after surgery for a bursting appendix while in France. She had many friends who still miss her. They say she was a creative genius who made a room come to life with her excitement. Margaret saw herself as something else - a writer of songs and nonsense.