  | Full Text Reviews: Booklist - 05/15/2013 Conrad, a big-eyed (one might say bug-eyed) pug, watches as his family gets ready for bed. But is Conrad tired? He is not. Unlike some, Conrad is bothered by this and heads outside to see who else is awake. In a bouncy and informative text, Conrad gets a look at how sleeping animals catch a few zzz’s. Ducks sleep swimming in a row. A bear sleeps for months before he wakes. Sometimes the text scans well (“Elephants sleep in a herd at night. / A monkey’s tail keeps the balance right”), and sometimes the rhymes are strained (“Rabbits sleep underground. . . . Snakes sleep lying down”). The rich ink, watercolor, and gouache illustrations are cleverly done and offer views from many perspectives; the delightful animals are the focal points of the spreads, though Conrad appears in each, observing sleep patterns. In the end, he finds someone up—his little girl owner. And what better way for them to get 40 winks than go cuddle up together? But all is not quite as perfect as it seems, because, as the last spread shows, Conrad snores. - Copyright 2013 Booklist. School Library Journal - 07/01/2013 PreS-Gr 1—A pug suffering from insomnia explores the world of sleep, traveling far and wide to observe and contemplate the sleeping habits of different types of animals (including a cave full of bats, inexplicably sleeping during the night). The rhymes are forced and uneven: "Look at this!/It's a herd of sheep…/and every one is fast asleep./How many sheep? A hundred or so?/Maybe a thousand? I don't know./There are more sheep here than I've ever seen./I count a few-/yawn/Then see more in between!" Finally, the dog returns home, frustrated by his inability to join the world of slumber, and finds a wide-awake companion before ironically falling asleep and leaving his friend awake and alone. The art far outshines this well-intentioned story. Hall's cartoon animals are delightful. It's impossible not to be charmed watching the pug's growing consternation as the evidence builds and he wonders if he's the only one who cannot sleep. As in Karma Wilson's The Cow Loves Cookies (S & S, 2010), Hall's figures are rendered with confident gestural outlines and gorgeous shading that conveys emotion and action in a way that is a joy to behold. Anyone with a soft spot for the oddball cuteness of pugs and their like will have a hard time resisting these illustrations and likely be willing to overlook the awkward writing. A supplemental purchase for large collections.—Anna Haase Krueger, Ramsey County Library, White Bear Lake, MN - Copyright 2013 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission. Loading...
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