I’ve noticed that there has been a bit of a run on picture books about bedtime lately and they’re all really cute. Here’s just a couple of my favourites:
Bedtime without Arthur by Jessica Meserve is about a girl called Bella who has a very special bear named Arthur who protects her from monsters when she is asleep. “He is as brave as a knight. He is as strong as ten elephants. And he does karate.” While Arthur is fighting the monsters in the shadows, Bella is dreaming of rainbows and rainforests, but one night Arthur goes missing and Bella has a horrible sleep because she can’t stop thinking about the dragons, slugs and grizzly bears that she is scared of. She searches everywhere for him and finds that he has made another friend. This little bear has lots of character and the illustrations are adorable and so bright.
One of my favourite illustrators, Chris Riddell has also written and illustrated a picture book about the monsters that hide in your room. Mr Underbed is about a boy called Jim who is dozing off one night when a friendly monster pops out from under his bed. His name is Mr Underbed and he’s a bright blue, fluffy thing with a bulbous pink nose and a friendly face, and he tells Jim that it is very uncomfortable sleeping under the bed and asks if he can sleep in his bed. Jim invites him in but this is only the start of the long string of monsters who want to share his bed, including Pinkie the bedside table rabbit and Grimble, Grumble and Groan the toy trunk triplets. Will Jim ever be able to get to sleep?
Stormy Weather by Debi Gliori doesn’t have the humour of the previous two books and is more of a lullaby for parents to read to their children before bed. The different animals tell their children how they will watch over them and protect them while they sleep. The text flows nicely and is a pleasure to read with perfect ryhthm to lull children to sleep.
