LITTLE PIG FIGWORT CAN’T GET TO SLEEP

Struggling to sleep, the late Branford’s (The Fated Sky, not reviewed, etc.) porcine star embarks on a series of adventures in this satisfying bedtime fantasy. Muñoz’s (Dream Dancer, p. 106, etc.) dreamy watercolors picture the pig cavorting at the bottom of the sea, where a drowsy mermaid and sleepy starfish kindly ask him to keep quiet. “Shush, Pig Figwort. . . . Don’t you know it’s nighttime?” When he zips about the North Pole on a Ski-Doo, a grumpy polar bear asks, “Can’t you see we’re sleeping?” After each excursion, Little Pig Figwort returns restlessly to his bed. Finally, he decides that what he really needs is “. . . a trip to . . . the moon.” Muñoz’s full-bleed illustration shows the irrepressible porker aboard a green rocket. On the cratered, yellow moon, a band of sunglasses-wearing pigs awaits his arrival with a guitar, a violin, and a pair of maracas clutched in their cloven hooves. Wide-awake, the “moon pigs” and Little Pig Figwort play “snoutball,” “Pig Pirates,” and “Rocket Races.” Finally, Little Pig Figwort decides to call it a night and head back home. “That was so much fun that I don’t think I’ll ever sleep again.” Young readers will surely predict what’s next: the last series of vignettes shows the once-perky porker as he finally settles down to sleep. (Picture book. 4-7)