Sleepy Places (review)

This rhyming run-up to bedtime surveys the sleeping places of various critters ("A rabbit sleeps tight in its burrow;/ a bird snuggles down in a tree") before going on to query the audience about possible napping venues, enticingly offering cozy suggestions for nodding-off nooks before describing the traditional pleasures of dozing off in "your own little bed." Though the scansion gets a little loose in spots, there's clever and ear-appealing variety in the softly rollicking lines and a tasty sprinkling of alliteration and internal rhyme ("A frog takes a snooze in the ooze of a pond/ a rose makes a bed for a bee"); audiences will get a particular kick out of the whimsical suggestions for their following in the bedtime footprints of animals ("Do you suppose you could drowse in a rose . . . ?"). Freeman's homey, tousled pencil lines recall Brian Karas, while the watercolors on cream paper have a grayed tone that suggests scenes viewed in twilight. The muted color helps keep the drowsily smiling animals charming rather than cutesy, and the sleepy human trio of kids seems as comfortable slumbering upside down with the bats as they do tucked up between the sheets. This will be a particularly appropriate bedtime book for kids kipping down in less conventional locations, but even traditional beddy-byers will appreciate the contemplation of cozy nighttime possibilities.