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NO SLEEP FOR THE SHEEP by Karen Beaumont

NO SLEEP FOR THE SHEEP

by Karen Beaumont and illustrated by Jackie Urbanovic

Pub Date: March 1st, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-15-204969-0
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin

Poor sheep just wants to sleep. Yawning big yawns, his bedtime ritual begins on the copyright page as he brushes his teeth, grabs his teddy and heads out to the big red barn. But just as he closes his eyes, “There came a loud QUACK / at the door, at the door, / and the sheep couldn’t sleep any more.” Duck is making a racket! Sheep ushers duck inside and admonishes him with a stern, “Shhh! Not a peep! Go to sleep!” and the two snuggle in for the night. But then… “There came a loud OINK / at the door, at the door, and the / sheep couldn’t sleep any more.” One after another, a parade of farm animals interrupts sheep’s slumber. As each animal boisterously crashes through the barn door, the bedraggled sheep, with wool askew and hoof to head, becomes more and more miserable. Beaumont’s playful, repetitive text, with its loud animal sounds, will have children chanting along to the beat. In more intimate sharings, readers with a careful eye can spot the shadow of the next animal, along with a certain tiny, feathered friend who just may make the loudest sound of all. (Picture book. 3-6)