Customer Reviews

When I'm Sleepy (Picture Puffins)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Jane Howard lulls us to sleep with soothing adjectives such as cozy, curl, stretch, yawn and warm, while we're drawn in by Lynne Cherry's illustrations utilizing brilliant colors and life-like imagery. This is a simple bedtime story that pacifies both reader and listener. It draws you in with the repetition of the phrase, "When I'm sleepy," and keeps you in a very tranquil mood until the very end. I read this book to my children in order to calm myself down. Days are hectic for both children and their parents, and I always found this book to be of comfort to both. There is an appreciation for nature and a glance into our wildlife, their habitat, and how the animal kingdom comes to rest. The earth tones of green, orange, red and blue are found on every page. The young girl sleeps beside the animals in their sprawling or confined surroundings and appears content in every posture. This book roams through the mind of a sleepy young girl wishing and wondering what it would be like to sleep with turtles in a swamp, raccoons in a hollow log, penguins on the freezing ice or giraffes standing up. She is pictured on each page doing those things that transform the setting but not the mood of the story. In the end she discovers the place she desires most is her own cozy bed with warm cuddly blankets and a soft pillow. On the final page, fluffy white clouds above her head reveal the various animals she had imagined as she was falling asleep. I think this book is a delightful alternative to counting sheep! I would recommend it to anyone who like me is always trying to find ways to get children to relax. You cannot read this book without becoming relaxed. It's like a magic potion. Jane Howard captured the essence of falling asleep in a unique and captivating way. The illustrations seal the words inside a cozy blanket of color and style that makes this book a true work of art!

My 16 month old son hands me this book almost every night. The main character is a little girl who wonders what it would be like to sleep where animals do - in different surroundings (e.g. birds nest, underwater). The illustrations are colorful and show different animals sleeping in their respective environments.

my daughters are 3, 7 & 10 and all love this book for different reasons. the story is simple, but so sweet. the pictures are gorgeous! it is a perfect story to relax with before a nap or bedtime. i highly recommend it!

This book runs through a girl's thoughts as she falls asleep, imagining the different ways various animals sleep.

As she pictures herself in various forms of sleep, she grows more and more tired until she admits, at the end, that she's happy sleeping in a bed, like people do.

There's nothing more to it than that, it's just a short book for bedtime, that's all.

This is a nicely done children's book with beautiful illiustrations by Linne Cherry. The prose of Jane R. Howard has a sing-song cadence, and is related one sentence a page. Each page pictures the young girl narrator in a different place sleeping, and in each page she is being held by a cozy animal. The story, wording and cadence are condusive to a good night's rest and will be perfect to settle kids down for beddy-bye.

J. Lyon Layden
The Other Side of Yore

What a great book. My 17 month old now runs to the stairs to go to bed and asks for "the sleepy book". The pictures are beautiful, the pages CAN'T tear, and she loves it. She stands when the giraffe page comes, but sits right back down with the owl. A nice change from Goodnight Moon which we read for 17 months!!!

From the back cover of this book:" A gorgeous bedtime classic is now a board book. How would it feel to sleep in a bird's downy nest? Or in a bear's snug cave? This soothing, fanciful story invites children to imagine. But it also shows them that the sweetest dreams are found in their own soft beds."

Lynne Cherry's wonderful illustrations make this a classic "must have" book for all who read stories to children before bed. This one will make even wild kids sleepy! In this story a sleepy young girl wonders what it would be like to snuggle with a variety of cuddley animals...the illustrations are so endearing that your child won't be able to wait to snuggle her favorite bedtime toy.

The book opens with a little girl lying alone in her bed, with her teddy bear. At first she is unhappy being in her bed alone at night, as she wishes she could sleep in various places in the world with the animals that live there instead. Places range from curled up with a bird in a nest to sleeping standing up in between two penguins on the ice. In almost every picture she is snuggled up with the animal. After going through various scenarios she states she is happy to be sleeping in her own bed with her blanket and pillow, and we see her sleeping with two stuffed animals and dreaming of her real animal friends. After visiting these various sleeping arrangements I expected to see her sleeping alongside her parents, as humans used to do for most of our existance on this planet, and as some cultures continue to do today. It seemed silly to me for her to have been so happy literally curled up sleeping next to a bear and a raccoon, but then at home she is relegated to sleeping with stuffed toys. I would have given this book more stars if she was shown sharing sleep with her parents which is what historically, human children have done. The illustrations are very nice and show fine details of various habitats such as under the sea and the Egyptian desert. This is obviously a good story to read to your child before bedtime especially if your child sleeps alone, or if you are transitioning from a family bed to having your child sleep alone. If you have a family bed your child may be a little confused about why the girl is sleeping all alone.Parents who enjoy books and stories about wildlife will also like this book.