Too Small for My Big Bed: Sleep Tight in Your Own Bed Tonight!
As if the bedtime ritual weren’t hard enough on children (and their caregivers), there’s also the problem of getting kids to stay in their own beds if they wake in the middle of the night. Although bedtime stories abound, relatively few picture books tackle the latter. Mommy Tiger has the same dilemma each night as her cub, Piper, awakes and would rather curl up next to her than feel small and alone in his big bed. As the adorable, wide-eyed mother and son wander, play, and drink from their favorite pond, Mommy Tiger reminds Piper through gentle text with hints of rhyme just how high he can climb and jump on his own and offers suggestions (such as counting to 10) he can try to stay in his own bed. Most importantly, Mommy gets Piper to realize that mothers are never that far away. As tigers seem to know just how to make human children rest, sleepless households should pair this with Mary Logue’s Caldecott Honor winner, Sleep like a Tiger (2012). Preschool-Grade 1. --Angela Leeper