A PLACE TO SLEEP

An assortment of animals and two children choose where to snooze in this colorful, oversized picture book. As always, Meade’s (When Papa Snores, 2000, etc.) collage art is striking. This time she works in two very different styles, the first using colorful pieces of cut and torn painted and textured paper to create page-sized pictures, the other on a much smaller scale employing stark black and white in exquisitely designed vignettes placed on an expanse of creamy space. On the right-hand side of the pages, the animals are introduced and depicted in color, their personalities emerging in a few deft strokes. “When this bear needs / to snooze, where / does he choose to / lay down his furry self?” The answer is found by turning the page to see a much smaller bear, depicted in black and white, slumbering in the arms of a tree. The alliterative text is rich in wordplay: the slumbering bear slumps, a sleek seal sleeps, and a “minuscule mouse needs a nest to rest in.” Lines of text curve across the opposing and contrasting pages, but this apparent attempt to unify results in some of the words practically disappearing into the gutter, making them difficult to read. Although individual aspects here are delightful, unfortunately they remain separate, and neither the design nor the text is strong enough to unify them. An interesting experiment that doesn’t succeed. (Picture book/poetry. 3-6)