Sweet Dreamers

Do animals dream? Whimsically pondering what could be in the minds of a menagerie of sleepers, Simler uses descriptive language to cleverly evoke dreams drawn from animals’ distinguishing characteristics and habitats: “She settles on a rock, mimics a pebble, and sleeps like a stone. The octopus dreams in disguise.” “Tight inside his twisting shell, the snail stretches to the bottom of his bed. His dreams spiral out.” Each slumbering animal receives an illustrated spread accompanied by a brief prose poem. Wordless nighttime landscapes punctuate these reveries, languorously extending the book’s rhythmic pace. Staticky scratched lines of color highlighted with electric orange against deep inky backgrounds offer an energizing contrast to more common depictions of rest, subtly reminding readers that dreaming, too, is an action. Ages 4–8. [em](Mar.) [/em]