WHAT DO DUCKS DREAM?

With a nod to Freud for her inspiration, Ziefert suggests that animals dream just as people do. Of what? On “Sigmund’s farm,” “The cows all dream of heaps of hay / And fields of boats for floating away,” as “Fluffy ducks in their sleepy hours / Fly their bikes over hills and flowers.” Though owl, fox, and snake provide potential trauma by being “quite wide awake,” horses, goats, pigs, pets, and children also dream peacefully away. Saaf combines swatches of cloth, grass, wallpaper, and other materials with drowsy-looking painted figures, alternating rural nighttime scenes with equally real-looking dreamscapes. The verses flow with sleep-inducing smoothness, beneath a succession of (mostly) soothing images in this invitation to sweet dreams. Who would have thought a cat might dream of wearing red high heels? (afterword) (Picture book. 5-7)