Deft, bouncing rhyme accompanies vibrant illustrations full of energy and charm in this lively twist on a going-to-bed book. It’s bedtime for a mouse baby, but he doesn’t want to sleep—so although Daddy says, “No more time for hide-and-squeak,” the games begin. As mouse baby wiggles, dashes, scampers and scurries through the house, it’s Daddy who gives chase, following the little one up curtains, around a lamp, over a clock and through bubbles in the bathroom. Mouse baby is finally captured and gets his comeuppance—a kiss and a hug. Now it’s really time for bed, and this mouse baby may just be too exhausted to refuse. A satisfying good-night book and a celebration of the relationship between father and child, this is hard to resist, particularly because of the joyful depictions of the frolicking mice. In close-up and long shot, isolated against white space or scampering through the human-sized rooms, Payne’s mice—big-eared, grinning critters outlined crisply in ink and tinted with acrylics and colored pencils—seem ready to jump off the page. A great choice for reluctant sleepers. (Picture book. 2-6)
