Review by Booklist Review
Ages 21/2-4. Both parents and children should like this cozy good-night story. Against a blanket of blue sky full of golden stars, mother animals are putting their babies to sleep. Although the rhyme at times limps rather than lilts ("It's time for bed, little mouse, little mouse, / Darkness is falling all over the house"), there's a warmth to this that makes the whole more than the sum of its parts. Of course, one of the important parts is the art--striking watercolors that fill up the two-page spreads, showing a sheep and a lamb, a dog and a puppy, a cow and a calf, and others, the babies all with heavy lids, and the mothers affectionately nestling their young. The last mother-child duo is a mom and her curly-headed tot, who is wished sweet dreams and in the last picture is sound asleep. A pleasant prelude to slumber. ~--Ilene Cooper
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
A board book edition of Mem Fox's Time for Bed, illus. by Jane Dyer, is included in the Time for Bed Gift Set. As the baby animals settle down for a good night's sleep, youngsters will be lulled by the soothing, repetitive text, and the sturdy, beautifully crafted nightlight nestled alongside the book in a handsome package will assuage any fear of the dark. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 2-Charming illustrations and comfortable rhymes characterize this appealing bedtime book. A twilight mood is set by dusky endpapers sprinkled with twinkling yellow stars, and by a title page showing a mother reading to a child. Double-page spreads feature animal pairs, each with a parent settling its offspring down for the night. An orange tabby kitten receives a soothing bath, a sleepy blue bird is tucked into a warm nest, and a delicate fawn curls up against its mother. Each babe is lulled by a gently rhyming couplet beginning with the phrase, ``It's time for bed.'' Dyer's watercolor illustrations are dear. Large, clearly drawn animals are placed against backgrounds of vivid hues. A variety of landscapes keeps each scene looking fresh as a foal settles down in a moonlit meadow, a pair of fish blow bubbles in blue water, and two snakes curl up in overgrown grass. Working beautifully with the soothingly repetitive text, each painting conveys a warm feeling of safety and affection. A wonderful bedfellow for Ginsburg's Asleep, Asleep (Greenwillow, 1992).-Joy Fleishhacker, New York Public Library (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
A series of animal and human parents prepare their young for bed as darkness falls in this lullaby of rhyming couplets by the noted Australian author. The soothing text and sympathetic illustrations of parent-and-child pairs provide a fine bedtime story. From HORN BOOK 1993, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A gentle litany of good nights, ostensibly from various animals to their young (``It's time for bed, little mouse, little mouse,/Darkness is falling all over the house'') but mostly more apposite to their human counterparts (``It's time for bed, little calf, little calf,/What happened today that made you laugh?''), ending, inevitably, with a human mother tucking in a child. Fox's couplets seem offhand compared to her best (e.g., Shoes from Grandpa, 1990); but some of Dyer's expansive double-spread watercolors are charming; their points of view are so close in that some animals appear life-size (the bees are oversize). Best are the shaggy, drowsy, contented ewe and her lamb; repeated on the jacket, they guarantee a constant audience for this appealing bedtime book. (Picture book. 2-6)
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
