SNAIL’S GOOD NIGHT

Seeing that his friends Bunny, Mouse and Sparrow have disappeared, Snail rightly assumes that they’re settling down for the evening and sets out to wish them a good night. Being a snail, this takes him a while—so long, in fact, that by the time he gets to Sparrow, the sun has come up. Litzinger illustrates this Level 1 reader with close-up, ground-level scenes that are all soft, rounded forms. The pictures feature a snail with a human face, arms and clothing sliding “slowly, slowly, slowly” from stop to stop beneath flowers, foliage and a Moon watching benignly. Exhausted at the end of his errand, Snail retreats gradually (over several pages) into his shell and falls asleep. Emergent readers will likely feel a bit drowsy, too, by the close. (Easy reader. 5-6)