ASLEEP IN A HEAP

A diverting new take on the topic of a wakeful tot. Though Mama, Daddy, and big sister Molly all call Julia to bed, she's too busy to come; instead, she goes right on with her play until Daddy gets her out of the mud and into the tub. There, the wakeful Julia sings Daddy to sleep, right on the bathmat, to be joined—one by one as it gets dark outside—by Mama, Molly, the dog, a cat, and three kittens. Finally, when ``her whole family [is] asleep, asleep in a heap on the bathroom floor,'' Julia dries herself, gets into her nightgown, and falls asleep too, on top of the lot. Winthrop's narration is the funnier for being so direct and perfectly childlike; Morgan's deftly sketched watercolors are disarmingly warm and cozy. Just the thing for a tuck-in storytime. (Picture book. 3-7)