Bedtime for Sweet Creatures - this is a beautiful book that follows a little girl trying to fall asleep. It compares her in a playful and loving way to a little creature. It compares her to a wolf, a gazelle and others. It says she gallops like a gazelle back to her bed. Sneaks like a wolf out to get water. it's very sweet and very playful. I would use this with very little children. Maybe not in a classroom setting.

Apatient mother with a healthy sense of whimsy helps prepare her headstrong toddler for bed.

The story opens with a toddler, fists raised into the air, proclaiming, “No! No! No!” Thank goodness this not-at-the-moment-sweet creature’s mother is patient and creative as she corrals her child into a bedtime routine that may feel familiar to many readers. The words and behaviors of the child evading bed are translated into animal sounds and behaviors: wide-eyed and asking “Who? Who?” like an owl; shaking hair and roaring like a lion; hanging on for a hug like a koala. And, of course, the requisite leaving bed for a last trip to the bathroom and drink, like a human child. Zunon’s art takes this book to the next level: Her portrayals of the animals mentioned in the text are colorful and full of intriguing patterns and shapes. Additionally, the expressions on the faces of the mother, child, and animals speak volumes, portraying the emotions of each. Arguably, the sweetest part of the story comes at the end, when the child asks to sleep with Mommy and Dad. Though the mother sighs, the child climbs in, along with “owl, bear, snake, kitty, fawn, squirrel, koala, tiger, wolf.” (Readers attuned to details will notice the father’s look of delight at the parade of animals.) All characters are Black.

An adventurous treat of a bedtime story. (Picture book. 2-5)

-Kirkus Review

Note: I accessed a digital review copy of this book through Edelweiss. ( )

Children's author and poet Nikki Grimes teams up with picture-book illustrator Elizabeth Zunon in this sweetly imaginative bedtime tale. A young girl resists going to bed, finding lots of ways to delay the inevitable, from making her mother check under the bed for monsters to demanding a last glass of water. Comparisons are made, at each step, to a wild animal - the girl's teddy bear becomes a massive grizzly, the girl becomes a koala when she clings to her mother for a last kiss - but eventually she is ready to go to sleep. Or is she...?

Bedtime for Sweet Creatures offers a charming variation on a common theme in children's books - a theme which corresponds to a common childhood experience. Namely: the avoidance of bedtime. I have read a number of stories with this same idea, but what sets this example apart is the use of animal comparison in both narrative and illustration. There is an element of imaginative play here that is very appealing, and the colorful artwork captures that sense of make-believe, depicting both the imagined animal, and its real-world equivalent. Despite her prolific output, and the fact that I have been familiar with her name for many years, I have never picked up any books from Grimes before, which leaves me somewhat puzzled. I will definitely have to seek more out. I have encountered Zunon before, both in her own Grandpa Cacao: A Tale of Chocolate, from Farm to Family, and in her work on other authors' books. Recommended to picture-book readers looking for sweet bedtime books, especially if they would like ones featuring a warm and loving African-American family. ( )

The story is not your typical bedtime book. Nikki Grimes does a great job of how realistic it is when putting a child to bed. How children do not just lay down and fall asleep, there is always some activity before becoming sleepy.
The comparison of the child to the animals are well creative, and the book had beautiful illustrations to depict the words on the page. Reading this book made me feel warm and cozy and ready to snuggle in bed. ( )