GOOD NIGHT, MOUSE!

A sleepy mouse gets some shut-eye after soothing help from a bevy of friends in this follow-up to Cheer Up, Mouse! (2013).

Frontmatter pages show a yawning, sleepy mouse ready for slumber but unable to settle down for the night. Luckily, a veritable stampede of woodland pals comes to his aid, first trying “to wear him out” and then attempting a bath, a cuddle, shelter from the moonlight, a midnight snack, and finally, a lullaby orchestrated by a bat, tree frogs and crickets. The happily-ever-after ending sees Mouse sound asleep and cuddled up in a leafy bed with only the titular words, “Good night, Mouse” in an italicized whisper above him. This closing page is fittingly the sparest illustration, as well, with prior spreads dominated by the busy, well-intentioned efforts of Mouse’s friends as they help him get to sleep. Why Mouse’s friends are not as sleepy as he is and are not in need of help to get to sleep themselves remains a mystery in the text—are they all adults and Mouse a child? In any case, Henry’s multimedia pictures evoke the soft style of Christopher Denise’s illustrations in Phyllis Root’s Oliver Finds His Way (2008), though with less overt anthropomorphic characterization.

A sweet addition to the bedtime-book shelf.