From School Library Journal
PreS–In this bedtime countdown, rhyming couplets describe how 10 tired insects prepare for a night's rest ("Ten little sleepyheads/talking to their toys./One falls asleep/in the middle of the noise"). The usual routine ensues as the creatures reach for a snack, play peek-a-boo, beg for a book, and take a bath before drifting off to sleep, one by one. The countdown begins all over again as the last little bug remains wide awake. Colorful acrylic paintings convey the action and depict highly personified insects including a firefly, a red-and-black beetle, a bumblebee, a winged desert termite, and a slug moth caterpillar, all of which are identified on the endpapers. Although the book is a bit cutesy, youngsters will delight in looking for the odd one out on each page and enjoy the ending.
–Sally R. Dow, Ossining Public Library, NY Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
PreS. "Ten little sleepyheads talking to their toys. One falls asleep in the middle of the noise." Bouncing couplets count down to a bug family's bedtime in this charming offering. With each spread, a new bug falls asleep until a last restless soul wakes the whole crowd, prompting children to flip to the beginning and ask for repeated readings. Occasionally, the words make more lovely sounds than sense, but the rhythms and lulling rhymes are infectious. It's Saaf's winsome, mixed-media artwork that will draw children most. The thickly applied materials result in a few slightly muddied images, but children will easily be won over by the sleepy-eyed, grinning insects, charmingly clad in patterned suits, snuggled into cozy leaf beds, and surrounded by glorious flowers. Endpapers show the delightful lineup of bugs together with their common names. An imaginative, richly colored counting exercise for little ones still working on one through 10.
Gillian EngbergCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
