Even Monsters Need to Sleep

Even if it doesn’t send kids straight off to dreamland, it will keep them looking; snuggled close with a grown-up, that’s not all bad.

Cuddly, carefully painted monsters of every stripe are comforted by reliable nighttime rituals in this frisky but soothing bedtime story. "When Bigfoot goes to bed each night,/ he hugs his wooby extra tight/ and leaves on just a little light./ Even Bigfoot needs to sleep," begins Wheeler (The Christmas Boot). A big, brown furball, Bigfoot wears a red union suit, clutches his wooby (a blue bunny), and nabs a firefly in a jar for a nightlight before bedding down in a tree. Subsequent spreads feature aliens in footie pajamas, a braces-wearing dragon who can't stop chattering, and a troll whose "big-boy bed is by a brook,/ tucked inside a comfy nook./ Nanny reads his favorite book" (it's The Three Billy Goats Gruff, of course), among other creatures. Van Dusen (President Taft Is Stuck in the Bath) imagines a frame for the story, too, as a blue monster child holds her two-headed doll while her father reads to her then checks for children under the bed. The book is sure to do the trick at bedtime, and it's gentle enough even for readers who find monsters intimidating. Ages 4-8. Agent: Steven Malk, Writers House. (Mar.)

PreS-Gr 1--In this rhyming metafictional bedtime story, a blue monster dad puts his pink pajama--clad monster child to sleep by reading a book about how other monsters get ready for bed. Bigfoot cuddles with a "wooby," aliens have pillow fights, a dragon "talks and talks," Nessie "gets a drink...then gets a drink...then gets a drink." Each monster's description is followed by a lulling refrain of "even [name of the monster] needs to sleep." Finally, Dad checks under the bed "for YOU" and the little monster falls asleep, cozy in bed...or so it seems! Van Dusen's vivacious gouache illustrations offer plenty of playful details that enliven Wheeler's sedate verse--dragon parents mournfully look at their talkative offspring, one of the Billy Goats Gruff reads a story to the boy troll, a giant clutches a tiny teddy bear. The story really begins on the wraparound cover that features the kid monster running from the dad monster, continues to the recto and verso where the little monster hides behind the curtains and then gets dragged off to bed, then finally shows the little monster tiptoeing away once again on the endpapers. VERDICT A fun and relatable bedtime romp that will hopefully inspire kids to fall asleep and stay asleep, unlike its mischievous protagonist.--Yelena Alekseyeva-Popova, formerly at Chappaqua Library, NY