Sleep, Black Bear, Sleep - Hardcover

Jane Yolen; Heidi E. Y. Stemple

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0060815604 ISBN 13: 9780060815608

Publisher: HarperCollins, 2007

Synopsis

When winter's snow creates a soft blanket of silence, nothing is more comforting than curling up under a cozy quilt. Whether slumber awaits in a warm bed, a rocking hammock, or a nest of leaves, the feeling of comfort and the infinite world of dreams are universal.

This reassuring lullaby will calm any child to sleep, while Brooke Dyer's gentle illustrations show that the little details in everyone's niche truly make a place into a home.

About this title

About the Authors

Jane Yolen is the award-winning author of more than two hundred books, including fantasy, science fiction, and poetry, which earned her the moniker the American Hans Christian Andersen. Her titles include Odysseus in the Serpent Maze, The Dragon's Boy, and The Girl Who Loved the Wind. Jane Yolen divides her time between a farmhouse in Massachusetts and a house in Scotland.

Heidi E. Y. Stemple is the author of One If By Land: A Massachusetts Number Book. She has previously collaborated with her mother, Jane Yolen, on twelve books, including The Salem Witch Trials, illustrated by Roger Roth, and Dear Mother, Dear Daughter, illustrated by Gil Ashby. She has two daughters and lives in Hatfield, Massachusetts.

Brooke Dyer is the illustrator of Sleep, Black Bear, Sleep by Jane Yolen and Heidi E. Y. Stemple and Mama Always Comes Home by Karma Wilson. Brooke lives in Lincoln, Massachusetts, with her husband, three young children, and their dog, Sophie.

From the Back Cover

When winter's snow creates a soft blanket of silence, nothing is more comforting than curling up under a cozy quilt. Whether slumber awaits in a warm bed, a rocking hammock, or a nest of leaves, the feeling of comfort and the infinite world of dreams are universal.

This reassuring lullaby will calm any child to sleep, while Brooke Dyer's gentle illustrations show that the little details in everyone's niche truly make a place into a home.

Reviews

PreSchool-Grade 1—In this musical whisper of a book, various animals settle down for a winter's nap, assured that spring will wake them to reenter the warmer, more active world. Each page features a lullaby with language quirky enough to raise a smile-for instance: "Snore, little skunk, snore,/Turn over, snore some more./The winter winds may howl and wail;/Your den is closed with snow and hail./But you know spring will never fail./Snore, little skunk, snore." Complementing the comfort and reassurance of the text are Dyer's cozy and humorous illustrations. Frog cuddles up under a leaf-patterned comforter, warmed by her pink-striped scarf. Her ice skates are poised at the bedpost and her figure-skating trophy decorates the text on the opposing page. Badger, dressed like Sherlock Holmes, sneaks in some reading with his magnifying glass as he rests by a roaring fire in his underground den. Dyer deftly inserts details of pattern and personality using gentle, appealing colors. The painting of chipmunk snoozing in his running suit, surrounded by sneakers, is a hoot. The culmination of the book, on a blue background that might be flecked with snow or with stars, is, aptly, a message to children: "And even YOU, it's time for sleep,/So snuggle down and burrow deep./The sheet and quilt will keep you warm/Through winter or through summer storm/Till you awaken in the morn./Sleep, my little child, sleep." Soothing, soporific, and magnetic, this is a special winter bedtime book.—Susan Weitz, formerly at Spencer-Van Etten School District, Spencer, NY
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The rhyme scheme is as lilting as a lullaby, and Dyer's ineffably sweet watercolor illustrations enrich this bedtime story. With winter-nights scenes always in the background, a series of animal folk is sleeping, snuggled in nests as cozy as can be. A black bear, its den under the roots of a tree, sits in a chair by the fireplace, covered by a quilt. A little frog may be asleep at the bottom of a stream, but it's tucked into its bed, and it wears a striped muffler, just as the fish do. A box turtle snoozes in a hammock underground (wearing boxing gloves), and a toad dozes in its library, a manual typewriter by its side. The book ends with a directive to the listener: "And even YOU, it's time for sleep, / so snuggle down and burrow deep." GraceAnne DeCandido
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Publication date: 2007
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0060815604
• ISBN 13: 9780060815608
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Brooke Dyer
• Number of pages: 32