5-MINUTE REALLY TRUE STORIES FOR BEDTIME

Nonfiction alternatives to made-up bedtime stories.

What better way to induce drowsiness in young pillow plumpers than short, fascinating introductions to the bedding-down behavior of creatures from hibernating “frogsicles” to grizzly bears, not to mention the “terrifyingly terrific tarantula!” and the “jawsome” great white shark? Or perhaps tallies of record-breaking beds, styles of beds used around the world, and beds found in King Tut’s tomb? Or sleep’s stages, purposes, and body positions? Combining the work of four authors and 10 illustrators, this compendium of night-related knowledge ranges well beyond the bedroom as well as Eurocentric confines—touching on constellations known to Indigenous South African and Australian cultures and moon legends from Inca and West African Batammaliba traditions before closing with lullabies in five languages. Despite being the work of many hands, the painted illustrations on every page are consistent in their bright hues and simple cartoon style. Human figures are diverse in dress and racial presentation, and nearly everyone (animals included) smiles. Though pre–Covid-19 scenes of unmasked night workers in a hospital are a bit jarring and a claim for the antiquity of the West African lungfish that is off by at least a hundredfold slips past a team of Britannica fact checkers, these otherwise solid excursions through the natural world and human culture offer unusual routes to dreamland.

Nourishing nighttime snacks when the pigeon, the bunny, or the kid in the wolf suit pall.