SLEEPY BOOK

Bringing down eyelids for more than 40 years, Zolotow’s sleepytime classic is decked out in its third set of illustrations for this reissue. After a yawning moon riding high on the endpapers, Vitale (Sailor Song, 1999, etc.) follows the brief, gentle text closely, applying restful browns and greens or luscious violets and pinks thinly over rough-surfaced plywood to depict moths and horses, fish and crickets, turtles, kittens, and, finally, a child all drifting off irresistibly to sleep. Loveliest: “the snowy crane sleeps standing on one long leg like a flower on its stem.” Or “crickets sleep in the long meadow grass and look like the grass itself—they are so still.” Though literal, Vitale’s exquisite art brings new meaning to these well-loved images. Better than a hot toddy, or even a cup of chamomile tea. (Picture book. 5-7)