B IS FOR BEDTIME

Babies and bedtime go hand in hand. Add an alphabet with cuddly illustrations on sturdy pages, and you have a book ready-made for lap sharing.

A little girl labels and describes each of the letters. The letters and most of the rhyming text appear on the verso with small vignettes, while full-page illustrations unfold a small story on the recto. “Cc for the Clock that tick-tocks on the wall. / Dd is my Dog, who’s not sleepy at all.” The brown-and-white dog appears next to the letters and then again opposite, tugging at the end of the girl’s blanket, while an analog clock appears on the wall above. For the more difficult letters, “Qq is for Quiet,” “Xx for relaX,” and “Yy is for Yawn, and I’m ready to sleep. / All hushed until morning, you won’t hear a peep. / Zz Z…z…z…z….” The droopy-eared dog steals the show, and the little, red-cheeked Caucasian girl’s interaction with it adds playfulness to the bedtime buildup. Despite the book’s overall appeal, there are some out-of-sync blips. In the vignettes next to each letter, the dog poses with an unnamed object that also begins with that letter, which offers extra identification fun but may also cause confusion. Next to K, the dog peeks out from what many readers may identify as a doghouse but may be a “Kiosk,” and next to N, the pup appears snout to snout with what looks like a stuffed lamb (perhaps “Nuzzling” it?).

There are plenty of other bedtime stories that do not offer this potential confusion; seek them out for nighttime and save this for a brainteaser.