BACK TO BED, ED!

For many preschoolers, bedtime can be scary, making them reluctant or even downright obstinate. Ed, a mouse, however, loves getting ready for bed, from tooth-brushing and bubble bath to story with mom. BUT he hates staying in bed and uses the usual excuses of “too dark” and “monsters” to climb into bed with his parents. Sleepless Mom and Dad come up with a plan to keep Ed in his own bed with a “Closed” sign on their bedroom door. Does it work? Not completely, but a night light and a bed full of stuffed animals do, because Ed, after all, is a big mouse now. Large and simple, the illustrations of India ink, markers and colored pencils are quietly exuberant with bold typeface providing sound effects and the emphatic statements of “Go back to bed!” The images of sleepy and patently exasperated parents will elicit giggles; unmentioned in the text but present in the pictures, the new baby sleeping in a crib at the foot of Mom and Dad’s bed gives a clue to Ed’s difficulties. Reassuring and right up a toddler’s nighttime alley. (Picture book. 2-5)