Go to Sleep, Little Farm Lap

Somewhere a bee  Makes a bed in a rose,  Because the bee knows  Day has come to a close.    Nighttime blankets a little farm. An owl who-hoots. A bear curls up in a log. A mother fox calls her pups home to the den. But animals aren’t the only ones preparing to rest.  In the tradition of Margaret Wise Brown, with classically styled picture book illustrations and fresh, childlike imagery, this poetic bedtime book, as peaceful as it is warm, will wrap young ones in the comforts of routine. All is well, it reminds them. Now is the time for dreams. |

* "Repeated, pleasingly surreal lines of verse convey the sense of drifting into slumber...a keeper."  —Publishers Weekly, starred review "A quiet book for sharing in a cozy setting." —School Library Journal    "The blue-hued mixed-media illustrations soothingly depict a farm as it moves from dusk to night and bring a hush to the book—and no doubt its readers as well." —Booklist "Christopher Silas Neal's lovely and serene illustrations, in matte twilight hues of blue and rose, suggest a sparkling nighttime world that is simultaneously vast and cozy. Clearly Ray has worked to make her language dense and [Margaret Wise] Brown-like, and at times you can feel a gentle incantatory force."  —The New York Times    "The book begins at dusk, the sky slowly going from pink to blue to black and starry, the shadowy gray tones of the illustrations a consummate match for the restful mood of the text."  —Horn Book Magazine