MUSICAL BEDS

A variety of minor disturbances sets off a round of bed-hopping in this mildly farcical yet soothing family story. Josie (escaping the scary shadows on the wall) goes to Mom and Dad's room; her bunkmate, Ruby (escaping scary noises), follows suit. Dad, his own bed now occupied, sacks out in the girls' room, but then lonely Little Rick plunks down next to him and crowds Dad out. Belgian illustrator Pottie spotlights the expressive, sleepy faces of the characters, shown nestling in plump beds packed with stuffed animals and patterned comforters. Fuzzily outlined in black, her figures and objects are rendered with childlike simplicity. Bergman's (Bears, Bears, Everywhere) language, while sometimes musical, is not always apt. The meter and rhyme set up in the first four lines of the text are abandoned and used thereafter only sporadically. Some of the similes seem more alliterative than meaningful (Ruby is as "quiet as a carrot," and Dad falls fast asleep as "tired as a turnip"). While the illustrations are appealing, the narrative is a bit pedestrian. Ages 3-7. (Oct.)