CLOSE YOUR EYES

Babies are encouraged to fall asleep with a gentle rhyme that asks them to imagine what they see when they close their eyes.

Five racially diverse little ones are told to close eyes and concentrate on the colors behind their eyelids. “What do you see / if you close them tight? / Do you see colors, / bright and light?” Four children who snuggle together under one blanket squinch their eyes shut—except for one, who keeps one eye wide open. (The fifth is visible only as a pair of feet poking out.) Then: “Peep through a half-open eye. / Is the world in black and white? / Not a single color, / just shades of the night.” Here, all five tots peer out through heavy-lidded eyes. Comforting words are designed to lull tired little ones to relaxation, when a dreamlike adventure may occur. Perhaps a cuddly soft polar bear will carry them through the star-filled sky as they swoon into the depths of dreams. Peaceful scenes in pen and watercolor washes dominated by blue hues depict the babes sometimes in bed, sometimes more whimsically, as when they rest in half-moons hanging from a large tree. It’s not quite a lullaby, but the calming (though occasional uneven) poetry will bring on the tranquility necessary for quiet slumber. “Can you keep your eyes closed? Listen and don’t peek. / Let the world rock you gently to sleep.” (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Bedtime comfort couched in sleepy make-believe.