Sleep by Kate Prendergast

Old Barn Books, 2018. ISBN 9781910646229
(Ages: 3+) Recommended. Themes: Sleep, Dreaming, Night time. A picture book telling younger readers about how animals sleep is a lovely book to use at the end of the day to get children ready for bed, a quiet time to relax with an information book before bed time. Its soft illustrations showing a range of animals and how they sleep will show younger children that they are part of the animal kingdom, and like all others, need their sleep. Sleep is a natural part of the activities of the day, and each animal has some sleep to revitalise themselves. Each animal models sleeping behaviour, some sleep in groups, some alone, and some for only a few minutes each day. Most children will be aware of their pets sleep patterns and be able to tell each other how long their dog or cat sleeps, and then widen the conversation to include other animals they may know of. The book allows for younger readers to share the information and wonder at the facts given to them in boxes at the end of the book, reiterating what has been seen in the brief lines and soft illustrations already looked at.
This is a warm inviting look at animals and their sleep patterns, hugely valuable to use at night to model sleep behaviour but will also intrigue readers with the depth of information given in so few words.
Fran Knight