JUST LIKE ME

In a bedtime prelude a pigtailed child takes direction from animals in a version of “Simon Says” that eventually leads to slumber.

The book starts off with “Everybody suck your thumbs / Just like me!” On the left readers see a large monkey with thumb in mouth; on the right, the white, rosy-cheeked child with two pigtails that look rather like antennae stands in front of a fuzzy, green caterpillar as both comply and suck their thumbs. A bear continues, picking up the rhyme with “Everybody rub your tums / Just like me!” The large figures against plenty of white space are drawn with rounded edges, giving them the soft, cuddly, fuzzy look of a child’s stuffed menagerie. The colorful paintings with black details complement the black type of the repetitive, call-and-response narrative. The animal companions also include a cat, sheep, dog, flamingo, giraffe, pelican, rabbit, pig, and frog, all providing a fun or silly direction for the child and caterpillar to follow until a bee finally comes in with “Now it’s time to go to sleep / Just like ZZZ.” The rear endpapers reveal an enormous bed with everyone lined up snoozing. Inspired child-and-caregiver pairs may well adopt such modeled activities as stretching with the giraffe or flapping arms with the pelican until exhaustion ensues. (The nose-picking, however, may be one to bypass.)

Happy dreams! (Picture book. 2-5)