Lena's sleep sheep : a going-to-bed book
(Book)

After Lena's parents tuck her into bed, a conventional scenario gives way to a humorous fantasy. Needing help to fall asleep, she bids her wooly friends to come out. "I'm ready to count you now," says the curly haired girl. But the sheep are frightened by the round monster in the window (the full moon, pictured making a grotesque face) and hide under Lena's bed. At her suggestion, they dress up in costumes so the moon will not know you are sheep. This creates a new conundrum: they are so clumsy in their costumes that they can't line up to be counted until Lena finds a solution that helps her finally get to sleep. Her earnest, tactical conversation with the sheep takes some amusing turns; when they lament that the moon looks hungry and ready for a sheep snack, she says, "He's not hungry. He's already full." Lobel's (Nini Lost and Found) gouache and watercolor art adds to the story's offbeat humor; the sheep's vivid disguises include cat masks, tutus, sailor outfits, and more.

Celebrated as both a talented artist and the creator of charming texts, Anita Lobel is the author and illustrator of picture books, fantasies, retellings, and concept books that have as their hallmarks a theatrical approach and a keen sense of design. She has also provided the pictures for more than twenty-five texts by writers such as Meindert de Jong, Doris Orgel, Clement Clarke Moore, Penelope Lively, John Langstaff, and Charlotte Zolotow. Several of Lobel's works, both as author/illustrator and illustrator, are considered tour de forces. As an artist, she is well known for creating evocative, detailed paintings in line-and-wash or watercolor and gouache that reflect her signature style of richly patterned landscapes, opulent costumes and tapestries, and colorful flowers.