Wake up Lionel! by Sian Turner. Illus. by Rebecca Cool

Poor old Lionel walks in his sleep and on his Granny’s farm this causes some hilarity.  Readers will laugh out loud at the sight of Lionel wandering around the farm in his pyjamas, clutching Ted. First he tries to sit on the rocking chair, but finds this is the cat’s sleeping place so he must find somewhere else. Next he finds the dog and tries to share his bed, then rebuffed he goes outside to the stable, where he snuggles into the horse’s hay. The horse says neigh and so he moves on to the pigsty. Again he must move and he finds the henhouse.

Ted becomes hooked up in the wire so must be freed before the pair perch on the roost with the hens.

Leaving the henhouse he is followed by the animals he has shared a bed with and as he goes back to his own bed, the others do the same. They stay a little while then leave Lionel to his own bed, where he is woken by Gran at 7 o’clock with a sunrise.

Black outlined, bold and colourful illustrations cover each page. Readers will be drawn to the images of the animals, recognising each in their turn, and learn the name of each shelter the animal inhabits. Images of the farm will also draw their attention, and the detail shown of the animals and their sounds will entreat readers to say them out loud. Reading the book aloud to a young audience will see them joining in, repeating the sounds made and predicting the rhyming word at the end of each pair of rhyming lines.

A laugh out loud story which begs the reader to be involved, this tale of the animals’ attempts to wake Lionel will be a read it again picture book.

Themes: Read aloud, Animals, Sleepwalking, Farm life.

Fran Knight