Everyone Sleeps

PreS-Gr 1—A pug suffering from insomnia explores the world of sleep, traveling far and wide to observe and contemplate the sleeping habits of different types of animals (including a cave full of bats, inexplicably sleeping during the night). The rhymes are forced and uneven: "Look at this!/It's a herd of sheep…/and every one is fast asleep./How many sheep? A hundred or so?/Maybe a thousand? I don't know./There are more sheep here than I've ever seen./I count a few-/yawn/Then see more in between!" Finally, the dog returns home, frustrated by his inability to join the world of slumber, and finds a wide-awake companion before ironically falling asleep and leaving his friend awake and alone. The art far outshines this well-intentioned story. Hall's cartoon animals are delightful. It's impossible not to be charmed watching the pug's growing consternation as the evidence builds and he wonders if he's the only one who cannot sleep. As in Karma Wilson's The Cow Loves Cookies (S & S, 2010), Hall's figures are rendered with confident gestural outlines and gorgeous shading that conveys emotion and action in a way that is a joy to behold. Anyone with a soft spot for the oddball cuteness of pugs and their like will have a hard time resisting these illustrations and likely be willing to overlook the awkward writing. A supplemental purchase for large collections.—Anna Haase Krueger, Ramsey County Library, White Bear Lake, MN