THE GOLDFISH YAWNED

At least partly in homage to “Wynken, Blynken and Nod,” Sayles sends a young child on a rhymed dream voyage aboard a toy boat, past a “sock and sneaker reef,” through the bedroom window and out to a garden, where “Raccoons tumbled. / An owl ho-o-o-oted” and a banjo-accompanied chorus of “Crickets began to sing!” As each participant slips into slumber, the cat having finished its bath and the firefly blinking for one last snooze, the ship returns home. Subtly nuanced colors and artfully modeled wildlife make the illustrator’s pastels a firefly-lit delight; the rising sun gives this peaceful, murmurous solo debut a proper sense of closure. “Yawn . . . blink . . . tick-tock . . . hummmmm. . . .” Lovely. (Picture book. 4-6)