With daylight savings time comes a subtle and sometimes difficult parental problem. During summer days, children have long hours to exhaust themselves, but after the time shift, darkness often arrives before fatigue and cranky toddlers fight bedtime.
Going to bed is difficult problems children face. Aside from the scariness of darkness, there's that strange feeling that comes as your body drifts into sleep, or the sleepy alertness that turns shadows into monsters. Lullabies and reassuring stories are solutions that parents have found through the ages, both lulling children into relaxation. Here are a host of new books to set the mood for snoozing.
What is the most comforting thought a toddler can have? Knowing that their parents' love will shepherd them through the tough transition from wakefulness to sleep.
Patricia MacLachlan, Who Loves Me? Illustrated by Amanda Shepherd (Harper Collins, $14.99, ages 3-5) A little girl asks "Who loves Me?" as "moonlight falls across her bed." A wise cat leads the sleepy questioning child on a lyrical journey of reminding her of those who love her. There's her mother who plant ed her a garden of white lilies that "shine like lights in the dark" and her papa who built her a wooden playhouse. Back and forth goes the dialogue, a recitation of all the many supportive loving family who people the world of this lucky little girl. The cat leads the telling, but before long the small girl is adding details that fill out every little corner of her dark room until she is fast asleep. The cat curls under her chin and they dream together. The illustrators' pictures are whimsical, and yellow predominates as if to scare away dark thoughts.
Martin Waddell, Sleep Tight, Little Bear Illustrated by Barbara Firth (Candlewick Press, $15.99, ages 2-5)
In this, the 4th adventure, of Little Bear and his loving caretaker, Big Bear, Little Bear makes his first ventures into independent living. When Little Bear finds a small cave, he spends the day delighting in a room of his own, outfitted with all the important things. All the important things except Big Bear who he begins to miss and wonder if Big Bear misses him. Being held tight in Big Bear's arms brings such reassurance that after a book before the fire and his arms holding him close, Little Bear's not even awake to hear Big Bear's "sleep tight".
Nuances of relationship, of missing by both, are alluded to with words and pictures, but well-explained in the accompanying DVD which tells much about the author's thoughts, feelings, and process and ends with a special author reading of the story. Waddell's words explain much about the relationship between parent and child and the lovely significance of sharing books together.
Mother, Mother I Want Another by Maria Polushkin Robbins, illustrated by Jon Godell (Knopf, $14.95, ages 2-5)
Mrs. Mouse does an excellent job of bedding down her baby. There's dressing, teeth brushing, reading and tucking in. All is going smoothly until her good night bedtime kiss. Then her baby cries and demands, "I want another."
This sends Mrs. Mouse into a searching frenzy as she seeks another animal parent who can bring her baby the reassurance needed. Each animals sings a special comforting lullaby, but none fill the bill. Finally the frustrated baby clarifies, "No more mothers. I want another kiss!" At which point, all the mothers provide a kiss, the best of all comes from his mother and it's so satisfying he asks for another. This time Mrs. Mouse confidently kisses her comforted baby good night.
Barbara Joosse, Papa, Do You Love Me? Illustrated by Barbara Lavallee (Chronicle, $14.95, ages 2-5)
This is a companion book to the author-illustrator pair's Mama Do You Love Me? While their first book found an Inuit girl wondering seeking maternal reassurance, now a young Maasai boy asks his father the penetrating questions to be certain of his love. Joossee's language is drawn from culture and enviroments as the father describes the bigness of his love for his "Tenderheart" boy as "more than the warrior loves to leap" and as long as "the Serenget rolls to the sky". The child then poses more pointed questions. Would he still be love in heat and thirst and hunger and misbehavior. Each answer is gentle, tender, soothing and rhythmic enough to lull a child of any culture to sleep. Illustrator Barbara Lavallee catches the vibrancy of costuming, country, and calm.
Mike Jolley and Mique Moriuchi, I'll See You in the Morning (Chronicle, $12.95, ages 2-4)
The story starts with the mother bedding down her child. Then begins a poetic description of night as "a blanket that helps the earth to sleep". And in that dark world there is the light of moonbeams, twinkling stars and promises of pleasant dreams...and all ways the comforting refrain, "I'll see you in the morning". The gentle words and soft pictures make this a lullaby-like book.
Robert Newbecker's Beasty Bath (Orchard, $14.99, ages 3-5). Here's a twist for children who fear things that go bump in the night! This author writes a rollicking, rhyming bed prep with images of the heroine in monster guise. She's pictures with everything from lion's mane to claws and horns, each silly part being polished, brushed, cleaned and read to...until she is at least a sweet sleeping little girl. Whether a child's path is eased by the predictability, or silliness, or supposing that monster children have the same issues, this book wins on all levels.
James Sage and Russell Ayto, Mr. Beast (Holt, 416.95, ages 4-6) Charlie thinks he loves monsters as much as doughnuts. So his mother sends him off to borrow the frying pan from "Mr. Beast" with a promise to return it full. Apparently, Mr. Beast loves doughnuts as much as the boy for when Charlie eats the promised doughnuts returns the pan empty he calls out "You've eaten all my doughnuts, bozo, so tonight I'll eat you! Depend upon it!" It's then the story turns a little safe-scary as Charlie prepares for bed by checking locks, hiding places, and shutting windows. The threat grows more severe and there's lots of fun sounds and we have to wonder why Russell Ayto's illustrations show Charlie smiling. All is clear when Mr. Beast is revealed as an ultra silly, tickling daddy! Whose beastly bed behavior earns both a scolding from Charlie's mother.
Thacher Hurd Sleepy Cadillac: A Bedtime Drive (HarperCollins, $15.99, ages 2-5).
In this fantasy, a roomy smooth-riding Sleepy Cadillac picks you up at your bedroom window and you snuggle in for a comforting ride. Stop and fill up your tank with dreams as you float over the sea and circle the moon on the way to Pajama Land where "eyes droop, heads nod and everyone dreams the night away" and you "climb into bed, soft and warm all around." This book is full of Thacher Hurd's gentle words which are perfectly matched with his soft, dreamy pastels that chart the fantasy journey and create a metaphor parents can use!
Nancy Willard, illustrated by Mary GrandPre, Sweep Dreams (Little Brown, $16.99, ages 3-6)
An interesting pairing of the illustrator of Harry Potter books and a poetic writer with a strong sense of whimsy. Together they invent the tale of a strange broom found by a strange man at the grocery store. The man worries about his beautiful broom as it grows so unhappy it loses bristles until he discovers that she loves to gracefully sweep floors until they gleam in the moonlight. He rescues her from a broomknapper who bills her as a dancing broom in a circus and in the end has to let his restless broom go so she can sweep the clouds, rainbows, and stars. A true love story with totally wacky imagery.
A humorous viewpoint can give needed distance at bedtime.
Rob Scotton, Russell, the Sheep (Harpercollins, $15.99; ages 2-5). This wound-up sheep can't find his way to sleep. Dark scares him in a quiet meadow, his wool overheats him. Neither exercise, a pillow, nor change of location helps. Only after counting "six hundred million billion and ten stars" does the weary lambkin decide to count sheep. That does the trick! And when the others rise, Russell sleeps soundly. Simple words, soft blue hues and comical illustrations ease pre-sleep tension.
Kara LaReau, Snowbaby Could Not Sleep (Little Brown, $14.99, ages 2-5)
Even snowparents have a hard time helping their young rest. The repeated refrain "Snowbaby could not, would not sleep" sends wintry parents scurrying to satisfy requests. This baby has the same complaints as most children, but the cold context leads to warm smiles.
I recommend having a fixed story hour every evening. A time with no interruptions in a warm,cozy setting where a child knows that for at least a bit of time they have your undivided attention. As the day grows quiet, and loses its flurry of activity, bedtime is the perfect time to relax and bring the quiet inside you and your relationship with your child
Short Takes: Speaking of Reassurance. When older children become afraid because of happenings in our world, remember the comforting Rabbi Gellman and Monsignor Hartman, Bad Stuff in the News: A guide to Handling the Headlines (Sea Star, 2002) Terrorism, Hunger, The Wild Earth