Little bear's first sleep by Lesley Gibbes

Ill. by Lisa Stewart. Scholastic, 2016. ISBN 9781743624012
(Age: 3+) Recommended. Bears, Bed time. A perennial problem for parents is getting their child to sleep and here the bears about to hibernate for the winter, have the same problem. In soft feathery pencil, using basic browns and blacks, the bears are depicted in their cold grey world as darkness descends.
Mum and Dad know what to do, heading for their cave to snuggle down together for the winter. But baby bear is not ready at all. He tosses and turns and wriggles, but he is still awake. He goes outside and counts his toes in the snow, he strokes his ears like mum does and then growls softly to himself like dad. Finally he goes back into the cave and snuggles into his parent's softness and falls asleep, waking with the spring.
This is a charming tale of family, of things they do together, of things to do to help you sleep and finally the best thing to do, snuggling into the warmth of the family.
Young children will thrill to the life cycle of the bear family, intrigued with the idea of hibernation and the necessity of sleep to regenerate and restore our bodies, of the closeness of family and nurture.
Fran Knight