The dreams I'll dream tonight

Sweet dreams replace would-be nightmares in this surrealistically reassuring bedtime book. Narrated from a pale-skinned, dark-haired child's point of view, first-person rhymes request "just one more book" as a defense against bad dreams. The child also wills positive, sometimes absurdist alternatives: "Tonight I won't have nightmares./ No bad dreams for me.// Instead, I'm going to dream about// a hippo sipping tea." Deng fully realizes Ruhl's poetic nighttime visions with flowing, curvaceous markings and gentle, paper-texturized coloring. Verse and visuals alike reach their otherworldly pinnacle in a spread capturing "a dream inside a dream," where the subject mingles with East Asian--cued imagery of koi fish, a bowl of noodles, cherry blossoms, and more. As concluding moments center on the predictable comfort to be found in a child-caregiver relationship, a final prompt urges readers to express their own dream-time wishes. Ages 4--8. (July)

Two-time Pulitzer finalist Ruhl offers youngsters a playbook for a good night's sleep. In text addressed to a parent, a child offers ideas for warding off unpleasant dreams and enjoying good ones. The youngster proposes that the parent "read just one more book to me the way you always do. Then I won't dream of dragons. Instead, I'll dream of you." Smart kid. In fact, this child already seems to know how to conjure up agreeable nighttime images: "Tonight I won't have nightmares. No bad dreams for me. Instead, I'm going to dream about a hippo sipping tea." Throughout this soothing narrative, the protagonist delivers reassuring ideas, expressed via bouncy, rhythmic verses that evoke genial, sometimes comical reveries. Importantly, the child demonstrates an ability to conquer images that might otherwise prove fearsome: "And I won't dream of monsters hiding by that chair. That monster was a kitten--his tail was in the air!" At one point, the child decides to "choose to dream about…a dream inside a dream"--an empowering statement indeed. As morning peeps through the window, the young narrator slips off to sleep, saying, "I'm going to dream about…" This sweet book will help embolden dreamers to overcome nighttime apprehensions; kids will welcome repeat readings. Employing crayonlike textures and eye-catching imagery, the soft, muted illustrations match the text perfectly. Parent and child are pale-skinned. A very welcome addition to the bedtime-story canon. (page for readers to write their own dreams)(Picture book. 3-7) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.