Interest Level:
Pre-K-K
Age:
3-5
Genre:
Comedy and Humor, Poetry and Rhymes
It's time to hit the hay with Cazet's 24 bedtime rhymes. These selections feature gentle lullabies and silly stories of children and animals and their nighttime antics. The book opens and winds down with soothing, short poems. The middle section rises to a giddy crescendo with funny story poems such as "Can't She Take a Joke!?" and "How to Humiliate the Boogeyman."
Children will enjoy the humor, which ranges from the nonsensical to the gross: "I had a dream/of a thunderous cough/that exploded my nose/and blew my ears off." The selections can be read individually, but as a whole, they make an excellent bedtime romp. Most of the verses read aloud well; only a few are strained in rhyme and meter.
Cazet's characteristic pencil-and-watercolor illustrations bring to life the characters and scenes; children will want to spend time looking at the details. This collection deserves a place in the plethora of bedtime books, where it will spice up those sleepy poems and give children a fun place to dream.
