Goodnight, Sleepyville; by Blake Liliane Hellman (review)

The sun is just touching the horizon and the residents of Sleepyville begin to wind the day down: a family of foxes leaves the library and heads home to dinner; a briefcase-toting ladybug is lovingly greeted at the door of its toadstool house; a raccoon mother and daughter don their polka-dot pajamas while a family of squirrels brush their teeth. After snuggles, cuddles, and wiggles, everyone settles in for a restorative doze—except for the little fox, awake with a flashlight, reading its latest acquisition from the library. Lulling and simple text follows the various woodland denizens through their evening and nighttime routines, and there’s a sweet acknowledgment that bedtime requires a little more work for some than others, with lullabies and bedtimes stories necessary before kiddos start snoozing away. Soft, grainy linework and dappled textures create an easy coziness, and Henry is particularly deft at using slight shadows and waning light to track the gentle arrival of nighttime. The opening scene gives viewers a look at the whole of Sleepyville and its various residents, and the compositions move appropriately from busy to simple, with full bleed spreads transitioning to focused spotlight scenes set against a white background. The cuddly creatures have a toylike sensibility, and viewers will no doubt want to snuggle with their favorite stuffy after this sweet bedtime read.