BABIES CAN SLEEP ANYWHERE

Wheeler and Búzio contrast the resting places of animals with those of human babies.

The rhyming verses are gently somnolent: “Sloth stretches out in a moss-covered tree. / Cougars curl up in a lair. // Whales settle down in the deepest blue sea. / But babies can sleep anywhere.” This pattern holds throughout, showing three animals at rest and then a babe asleep—in this case, atop a father’s belly while the two float in an inner tube. Other spots include a woman’s arms, in a backpack baby carrier, inside a bucket at the beach, and slumped over the tray of a high chair. The final spread celebrates the different places babies can rest, though readers may be disappointed that all those mentioned in the verse aren’t pictured (“upside down!”). Amid the old standbys Wheeler nicely includes some less-familiar (and less-loved) animals: wolves, mole, skunk, and moose, for example. Búzio’s flat, posterlike scenes tend toward the graphically simple, animals described by salient features and babies with just line eyes, noses, and mouths, their cheeks tinged with pink scribbles. Skin colors are notably diverse, and the ending scene is particularly strong, showing couples that are gay and interracial and a woman in a headscarf. Búzio’s palette is strong in mint, lemon, salmon, and red, lending a retro feel to her illustrations.

Yes, babies can indeed sleep anywhere, and perhaps this book is the way to get them there.