Skip to main content

Books to Read... When You're Sleepy

Need a little help winding down at the end of the day? Brain buzzing with questions? Let the soothing illustrations, silly hijinks, and gentle language of these books get you in the right mindset to drift off to dreamland. 

The Bedtime Book of Impossible Questions
Written by Isabel Thomas
Illustrated by Aaron Cushley
New York: Bloomsbury Children's Books, 2023. Informational. 95 pages.

Have you ever lain awake at night because you couldn't stop thinking about a certain topic or question? Everyone has been there. Enters The Bedtime Book of Impossible Questions to set your mind at ease. Loosely encyclopedic with whimsical illustrations, this book sets out to answer impossible questions, such as: "How do we know that unicorns never existed?," "Do wasps know they hurt people when they sting?," and "How big is the universe?" So whether it's you personally or an inquisitive young one, prepare to have curiosity appeased and the stage set for a more restful night of sleep.

Good Night, Body
By Britney Winn Lee and Borghild Fallberg
Nashville: Thomas Nelson, an imprint of Thomas Nelson, 2023. Informational. 

Sometimes finding a way to calm down a restless body is integral to being able to peacefully head to dreamland. Good Night, Body ushers the reader through a series of motions chosen to help in this bedtime process. Individual parts of the body are addressed throughout the book, for example: "Hello, face. May you be slouchy like a blanket. Smooth any forehead wrinkles and fluff out those cheeks," culminating in a consciously relaxed body.

By Landis Blair 
New York: Margaret Ferguson Books, Holiday House, 2023. Picture Book.

The Night Tent offers a peculiarly magical take on the nighttime journey of a young boy after he takes refuge under his quilt and finds a fantastical land. Following a path illuminated by stars, his adventure becomes increasingly wonderous until he journeys back home, comes out from under his quilt, and immediately falls asleep.

By Vanessa Roeder
New York: Dial Books for Young Readers, 2022. Picture Book.

The Stack begins with a girl on a determined mission. Her mission? To stack items as high as possible. But what could she possibly be trying to reach that requires her to stack her neighbor's house, a whale, and her grandpa's station wagon? Sweetly rhyming text combined with humorous dialogue bubbles scattered throughout, this book is sure to be a repeat read aloud request. 

 










Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Review: Fowl Play

  Fowl Play By Kristin O'Donnell Tubb New York: Katherine Tegen Books, 2024. Fiction 277 pages. Still reeling from her beloved uncle's death, Chloe Alvarez is comforted and confused when at his last will and testament reading, Uncle Will gifts her his African Grey parrot, Charlie. Charlie has a robust vocabulary and loves to make Alexa requests for her favorite songs, but when she starts saying things like, "homicide," and "cyanide," Chloe becomes convinced that Uncle Will may have met his demise by murder instead of a genetic disease, as was previously thought. Ultimately, bringing in her brother, Grammy, and Uncle Frank (and of course Charlie,) Chloe's ragtag and adoring family support her search for answers ---going on stakeouts, engaging in fast pursuits, and searching for clues. But as the suspects stack up and the mystery grows, Chole will learn that the process of death and grieving is complicated, and in the end her Uncle Will's words that, ...

Review: The Factory

The Factory By Catherine Egan New York, NY : Scholastic Inc., 2025. Fiction. 306 pages.  Thirteen-year-old Asher Doyle has been invited to join the Factory, a secretive research facility in the desert which ostensibly extracts renewable energy from the electromagnetic fields of its young recruits. But Asher soon realizes something sinister is going on. Kids are getting sick. The adults who run the Factory seem to be keeping secrets. And the extraction process is not only painful and exhausting, but existentially troubling. Asher makes a handful of new friends who help him with an investigation that turns into a resistance, which turns into...a cliffhanger! The Factory is a page-turning sci-fi with multidimensional characters, an intriguing plot, and refreshingly straight-forward writing. Egan weaves in detail about climate crises and social unrest, making the story's dystopian setting feel rich and plausible. With its sophisticated themes and accessible storytelling, I would recomm...

Review: A Game of Noctis

A Game of Noctis By Deva Fagan New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2024. Fiction. 310 pages. On the island of Dantessa, social standings and wealth are determined by your place in the Great Game. If you keep on winning, you can reap treasures, power, and security for yourself and your family; but if you lose too many games, you'll be exiled to Pawn Island and a life of servitude. That's what happens to 12-year-old Pia's grandfather. Due to poor vision, he struggles to see the games, but also can't afford new eyeglasses without winning. When his score falls to zero, he is sent away. Desperate to bring him back, Pia joins a ragtag group of misfits to form a team for the annual game of Noctis. The game requires contestants to perform dangerous challenges in front of a live audience, and no one outside the wealthy Diamond District has ever won. Each member of Pia's team, the Seafoxes, has their own reason to compete, but if they're going to win they'll h...