Sleep Tight - Hardcover

Pre-K-- Hennessy's entrancing verse bears the requisite rhythm, rhyme, and brevity needed in a bedtime read-aloud. She begins simply with the lines ``Night time/ Quiet time/ Read our favorite book time,'' drawing listeners into the evening routine of the featured family. After Mom tucks the children into bed, the narrator asks ``Who is sleeping?'' and the rest of the book consists of a mesmerizing litany of various creatures and objects, some of which are inanimate, that ``sleep.'' Children will naturally understand that shoes and socks sleep in dresser drawers and soap sleeps in the bathtub. The focus of the book starts broadly, listing items outside the children's home, and then narrows to consider objects within their bedroom. The shift in focus not only heightens the intimacy, but also serves to settle the energy of the story, until the parents' final bid goodnight. Carnabuci's deeply hued opaque paintings extend the calming effect of the words through their shadowy tones and restrained composition, while a mixed use of soft and hard outlines gives a dreamlike quality to them. In keeping with the quiet energy of the poem, only a couple of lines of text rest uncluttered against each half-page expanse of white space. A nighttime soother, likely to lull sleep-resistant toddlers to slumberland. --Dorothy Houlihan, formerly at White Plains Public Library, NY
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Hennessy's ( Eeney Meeney Miney Mo ; Jake Baked the Cake ) pleasant bedtime book starts out promisingly in lilting free verse ("Night time / Quiet time / Read our favorite book time"), but wilts a bit when it takes the reader on a tour of rather well-worn nocturnal territory: "Birds are sleeping in the trees / Clouds are sleeping on a breeze / Trains are sleeping on the tracks / Bugs are sleeping in the cracks." The nighttime world of first-time illustrator Carnabuci evinces both the muted softness and the shimmering colors of Renaissance tempera paintings. His depictions of the high-cheekboned family suggest the work of the contemporary artist George Tooker; he goes on to include pets, countryside and favorite toys. The book breaks no new ground, but sleepy youngsters may well succumb to its blandishments. Ages 2-6.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.