The Dream Train: Poems for Bedtime

“Just close your eyes,/ snuggle your feet,/ think of your dreams,/ and breathe deep.” Across descriptions of nighttime routines, warm blankets, and starry skies, Taylor employs various verse types to usher readers to sleep. As lines embrace traditional bedtime symbols, this volume’s three-part structure groups pieces under chronological headings: “Night Arrives,” “Shut-Your-Eyes Time,” and “Dream Wheels Turning.” One poem encourages hopping aboard the eponymous dream train; another presents contemplative questions “Asked by a Pillow” (“How many ticks in a clock?”). Full-bleed mixed-media artwork from Allepuz features grainy, layered chromatic textures as scenes move comfortably between domestic, forest, and metropolitan spaces peopled by animals and by children with various skin tones. In “The Middle of the Night,” for example, a child seems to fall asleep on the potty as others snooze in their beds. Accompanying “A Thousand Stars,” an adult owl and two owlets doze in a tree outside a town. The whole package soothingly and successfully points the way to zzz’s. Ages 2–5. (Mar.)