Review by New York Times Review
The apparently irresistible homonyms "night" and "knight" have inspired picture books before ("Good Night, Good Knight" springs to mind), but no reason not to retool them for a slightly younger reader. Especially when the knight in question is a small boy with a spaghetti colander as headdress. Davey, a British illustrator, uses a striking palette of ocher, orange and cinnamon in this delightful debut, which recreates the imaginative pre-bedtime rituals of the aspiring titular knight. Simple, sweet and bound to induce sleep. ARTHUR'S DREAM BOAT Written and illustrated by Polly Dunbar. 40 pp. Candlewick Press. $15.99. (Picture book; ages 2 to 6) Dunbar ("Dog Blue," "Penguin") creates a whimsical image out of a play on words in this story about a young boy, Arthur, who awakens after an incredible dream. "'Wow!' Arthur said to his dog. 'Last night I had a dream.'" And as he explains this to his yawning companion, a small boat surfaces from the top of his hair. The image of this boat in a boy's hair, which grows in size as Arthur tries in vain to get his family's attention to tell them about his dream, is disconcerting. But it makes real the urgency of the imaginative child's vision. When his family finally stop to listen, they too are carried away. SWEET DREAMS By Rose A. Lewis. Illustrated by Jen Corace. 32 pp. Abrams. $16.95. (Picture book; ages 3 to 6) Moonflowers, nuzzling owlets and soft gray moths loom large in this dreamy lullaby book. In rhyming couplets that beg to be sung aloud, a sleepy child is introduced to the nocturnal world that carries on without her. "Up in the sky is Mr. Moon,/ Who'll watch you through the night - /His very round and smiling face/Shines beautiful and bright." Lewis ("I Love You Like Crazy Cakes") follows the familiar bedtime-book arc, touring the nighttime realm outside and dangling the promise of daybreak before tucking the child in at the end. Corace's gentle, slightly melancholic illustrations are fitting for a child's evening goodbyes. NO GO SLEEP! By Kate Feiffer. Illustrated by Jules Feiffer. 32 pp. A Paula Wiseman Book/ Simon & Schuster. $16.99. (Picture book; ages 3 to 7) The father-and-daughter team behind "My Side of the Car" reunite here for the story of a determinedly restless baby. When the defiant child yells from his crib, "No go sleep!," everyone from his mother to the moon chimes in to comfort and cajole him into changing his mind. "And the stars said, 'We will twinkle and sprinkle sweet dreams down to you.'" Kate Feiffer's straightforward prose and clever, humorous story speak to Everybaby, and Jules Feiffer's jangly-limbed, blue-eyed boy, illustrated in pen-and-ink with washes of blue watercolor, is adorability incarnate. THE KING WHO WOULDN'T SLEEP By Debbie Singleton. Illustrated by Holly Swain. 32 pp. Andersen Press. $16.95. (Picture book; ages 4 to 9) With a wink to "The Princess and the Pea" and a nod to "Pickle-Chiffon Pie," this jaunty fairy tale twists matters around so that it's the king who cannot sleep. He "loved his only daughter so much that he had resolved to watch over her every day and every night, until he could find her the perfect prince." A humble but resourceful would-be prince finds an ingenious solution to the king's insomnia, and all ends well with a wedding cake. No peas get squashed in the process. PAMELA PAUL ONLINE A slide show of this week's illustrated books at nytimes.com/books.
Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [May 13, 2012]
Review by Booklist Review
Singleton's humorous story elegantly combines a fractured fairy tale with counting and weekday timekeeping. The titular king is so concerned about finding the best husband for his daughter that he gets no rest while sending away imperfect suitor after imperfect suitor. A local farmer, however, finds just the right way to trick him into napping in an elaborate ruse involving days of the week, intentionally garbled math, and the counting of 100 sheep. With the king asleep, the farmer has the opportunity to court the princess, who was perfectly happy to have him as a suitor. Swain's large, watercolor cartoons both illustrate and expand the multiracial and multispecies cast of the story, giving young audiences lots of opportunity to compare the various tall, short, fat, and thin suitors. The upbeat narration matches the art in mood, and the giggling princess suggests that she sees the joke coming maybe even before first-time readers.--Goldsmith, Francisca Copyright 2010 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
It's a treat to come across an original fairy tale that generates surprise not by irony or irreverence, but through sheer narrative ingenuity. Debut author Singleton does just that-her clever story wouldn't be out of place in a Grimm's collection. The eponymous king is an insomniac by choice: he "loved his only daughter so much that he had resolved to watch over her every day and every night, until he could find her the perfect prince." Determined to get some face-time alone with the princess, suitors try to lull or even drug the king to sleep. But in the classic tradition, it takes a humble but quick-thinking young farmer to set in motion an elaborate con that results in the king having to count sheep. "And they slept peacefully ever after." Swain's (The Perfect Baby) innocuous cartooning puts a bit of a damper on Singleton's brisk prose and inventiveness. While there's plenty of variety in the compositions, the characterizations are flat: the princess is a cipher, and the farmer exudes only the barest hint of slyness. Ages 4-9. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 2-The king loves his beautiful daughter very much, and he resolves to watch over her day and night until he finds a suitable husband for her. He interviews many crowned heads, to no avail. The princes realize that if they could make the king fall asleep, they could talk to the princess. They try everything, but he is on to them. Then a clever, persistent farmer arrives and finally tricks the king into counting sheep. The farmer and princess marry and everyone sleeps peacefully ever after. The humorous watercolor and pencil cartoon illustrations are large and bright, and feature expressive, goggle-eyed characters. While the plot, resembling many folktales, has been done before, the way the farmer tricks the king is original, and children will enjoy it.-Margaret R. Tassia, Millersville University, PA (c) Copyright 2012. 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
The princess sleeps in a silver bed. The queen sleeps in a golden bed. But the king doesn't sleep at all, because he's determined to watch over the princess until he finds the perfect prince for her to marry. A comical procession of princes comes to be interviewed, each with a way to lull the king into sleep so they can speak directly to the princess, each unsuccessfully. It's a farmer with a week's worth of (purportedly) miscounted animals who finally succeeds when the king impatiently announces that he will count the one hundred sheep himself. Singleton uses a traditional fairy tale structure in an altogether new and funny story, great for reading to groups, who will early spot the green-suited farmer watching from a distance before he makes his first trip in with a wiggling bag of animals. Bright, simple watercolor and colored pencil illustrations use shadows to add interest, and a closer look at the pictures rewards the viewer with entertaining details. This clever picture book would make a fine storytime pair with "The Princess and the Pea." susan dove lempke (c) Copyright 2012. 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
Princess Pigsty (2007) and Mary Jane and Herman Auch's The Princess and the Pizza (2008). (Picture book. 3-6)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
