Beep! Beep! Go to Sleep!

PreS-Gr 1—A boy tries desperately to get his three robots to sleep. He leads them into the bathroom for rotor brushing and shield cleaning and finally settles them and himself into bed. But just as the snappy rhyming text suggests the robots are fast asleep, a page turn repeatedly indicates otherwise. "BEEP! BEEP!" bleep the robots as they report "sensor aches," the need for a light and more oil and a coil, and problems with a loose belt or tight bolt. Finally, in utter frustration, the boy issues an ultimatum: "No more blipping!/Blinking-boinking!/Winking-whirring!/Squinking-oinking!" Of course, they ignore him with a last request: "a bedtime story." Then no more sounds ensue, for the robots have "finally put/their boy to sleep." The illustrations, created with pencil, watercolor, and digital paint, greatly extend the text. The chaotic bathroom spread shows a robot entangled in toilet tissue as another overflows the sink with bubbles and toothpaste and a third sprays water well beyond the bathtub. The boy first rests with a wary eye on the troublemakers, yawns in hopeful anticipation of quiet, and finally lies spread-eagled in exhaustion. Alert readers will notice that a mouse, which has its own bed in the room, joins in the antics from start to finish.