SHEEP NUMBER 19

A disgruntled sheep who never gets to be counted finds a way to be included.

Tan-skinned Mrs. Ophelia, who sports fashionable glasses and a poof of curly gray hair, needs to count sheep each night or she’ll never fall asleep. Once she counts to 18, however, she immediately dozes off. Poor sheep number 19, Ramona, never gets a turn. She’s ready to leap over the fence just like the others but is never called to duty. So Ramona takes things into her own hooves. She tries altering her “19” label so it reads “1,” and she attempts to be first in line by farting in order to drive the other sheep away. Nothing works. So instead, Ramona leads a gentle revolt. She gets the flock to realize that it’s unfair that the same sheep get to jump every night. They work out solutions that allow all the sheep to get a chance at showing their stuff, regardless of number. At times there’s “a great deal of numeric confusion,” but luckily, Mrs. Ophelia doesn’t seem to mind. She sleeps on. The ending is a bit harried, but this inspired tale, translated from Spanish, will elicit plenty of guffaws for the silly, wide-eyed sheep’s antics. Martín’s scribbly, energetic style makes the sheep bound off the page.

Combined bedtime and numeric fun.