SLEEPY CADILLAC

A big blue classic convertible floats down the street until this “Sleepy Cadillac” stops by a little boy’s window and takes him for a ride in the night sky. The engine’s running like a regular car, but this magical contraption is flying high above the city: “Drift to the dream station. / Fill up the tank/ with dreams to make the Cadillac fly. / Past the houses, / past the lawns, / past the mall.” The car floats over the ocean where the whales snooze, up to the moon where all the other sleepy cars carry their sleepy passengers, and all the way to Pajama Land, where wispy-looking dreamers drift in a swirly cloud. Even if young ones don’t find the idea of riding in a flying car very soothing, Hurd’s words are undeniably hypnotic, causing eyelids to get heavier—and heavier. Soft pastel and pastel-pencil landscapes further cast their spell “Until all the eyes droop / and all the heads nod, / and everyone dreams the night away.” (Picture book. 2-5)