TEN IN THE BED

Guile gives the traditional, infectious counting song about rolling out of bed new life in this die-cut delight.

Sturdy L-shaped pages—each one a little bigger than the last—stagger to create a terraced effect, making the two rows of animals asleep in the bed seem to pop off the pages. The characters in this version are adorable stuffed animals, including a crocodile, giraffe, horse, pig, cat, duck, monkey, rabbit, bear and mouse. They roll out of the bed one by one (with sound effects—the pig says “OINK, OINK, OOPS!” and the bear “GRR, GRR, BUMP!” for instance) until only the mouse is left, looking small and fragile against the expanse of the empty bed. The text reads: “There was ONE in the bed, / and the little one said, / ‘I’m lonely! I’m lonely!’ ” The final page shows all the animals back in the bed with the little mouse snuggled right in the middle and offers a happy ending for everyone: “So they all climbed in / and snuggled up tight. / Good night! Good night!” Toddlers and preschoolers dig this repetitive count-down ditty, and they will love it even more in this engaging format.

A natural fit for storytime or one-on-one bedtime sharing.