Woodland Dreams

In a classic-feeling narrative that features graceful verse and detailed artwork, readers follow a child with peach skin and long sandy hair as she bids goodnight to animals at day’s end. Clad in a teal coat and red-orange boots, she pads through the woods with her black dog, repeating the phrase “Come home” to each animal they encounter—“Come home, Bushy Tail,” to a squirrel. Each spread presents rhythmic, rhyming lines about the animal: “Meadow hopper/ Clover cropper/ Twilight whispers. Time to furrow./ Curl up tight inside your burrow,” reads the page for Long Ears, a rabbit, as the child nears home herself. A warmly autumnal color palette, rich with browns, oranges, and forest greens, enriches the illustrations, which present expansive forest scenes in grainy and sponge-like textures. A cozy goodnight read for sleepy animal lovers. Ages 3–5. [em](Oct.) [/em]