One Minute Till Bedtime: 60-Second Poems to Send You Off to Sleep

Former Children’s Poet Laureate Nesbitt compiles a dizzyingly creative assortment of new bedtime-ready poems, each of which can be read in less than a minute. Calef Brown, Margarita Engle, J. Patrick Lewis, Marilyn Singer, and Lemony Snicket are among dozens of contributors, whose works vary widely in tone, form, and subject. Niemann’s minimalistic illustrations—rendered in muted shades of blue, brown, and green—accentuate each poem. In Ron Koertge’s “Bedtime on 7th Avenue,” where “Even graffiti opens its loud neon mouth and yawns,” Niemann shows a water tower snoozing on its side. And in Nina Laden’s ode to a chameleon (“Of all the kinds of lizards/ He’s really quite a wizard”), the reptile is snugly incorporated into a thickly outlined jigsaw puzzle. With a broad range of voices and sentiments, the collection delivers poems to meet any mood. Ages 4–8. (Nov.)