Dreaming of You

“When they sleep what do animals see?” That’s the question driving VanDerwater’s lullaby of a picture book, which moves from animal to animal, describing dreams that just so happen to involve readers who may be settling down for the night themselves. Well-crafted, undulating rhymes cover 10 animals in total, and although the animals’ dreams often involve exploration and play, the mood always remains restful: “Turtles are dreaming of cool, muddy beds./ Turtles are dreaming of learning to run./ Turtles are dreaming of basking with you/ on a rock in a river in hot summer sun.” Working in mixed media, DeWitt combines watery portraits of chipmunks, frogs, fish, and fireflies with crisply collaged backdrops and charcoal-like flourishes of added detail. VanDerwater’s repeated second-person references are all but certain to have readers imagining themselves in the animals’ frolics (“Horses are dreaming of you telling secrets/ into long ears as you nuzzle their faces”). It’s a lovely bedtime sendoff for animal-loving children that will leave them with ample imaginative fodder for their own dreams. Ages 3–6. [em]Author’s agent: Elizabeth Harding, Curtis Brown. Illustrator’s agency: Wernick & Pratt. (Mar.) [/em]