SHEEP WON'T SLEEP

A happy array of wooly creatures tries to help bring about a good night’s sleep.

A wide-awake girl decides to count sheep in order to fall asleep. She closes her eyes and counts by ones up to 10, all fluffy white and smiling—and in her bedroom. The 10 have great fun there but are not successful at sending Clarissa to sleep, so they suggest counting alpacas by twos. Clarissa welcomes 20 more colorful creatures but is still wide awake. Twenty striped and polka-dot llamas, counted by fives, follow. Fifty patterned yaks, counted by 10s, join the menagerie. This is just too much bedtime, bedroom mayhem for the tired girl, so she does what a good knitter would do. She starts unwinding wool from the 100 frolicking beasts until she has wound up a great big, enormous ball of very colorful yarn and knits herself a lovely afghan. Children can count along, add the numbers, and then subtract them in this enjoyably crafty bedtime tale. The pen-and–digital ink drawings feature one black-haired, white Clarissa and a multitude of appealing and colorful critters, beloved by all knitters.

Count them, play with them, and knit them into one wonderful blanket.