Wee Reads: Sleep, Sheep! By Kerry Lyn Sparrow

Ever since Finn was born, and even before then, we would read to him. We wanted to show him reading from an early age. Now he loves us to read the same books, over, and over, and over. But it is the sweetest thing, when he likes to pick out a book and climb into our laps. 

Sleep, Sheep! By Kerry Lyn Sparrow

  

There are lots of things Duncan likes about bedtime --- the stories, the pajamas, the bubblegum-flavored toothpaste ... The only thing he doesn't like is going to sleep. And he'll do anything he can to avoid it. Until one day, Duncan's mom has had enough of his stalling. Try counting sheep, she tells him. So, he does. At first, it's kind of fun. As he counts, each sheep appears, wearing its number like a race car, and leaps over the bed. But then comes Sheep #68, who hesitates. He needs a drink of water before he can jump. Then he has to go to the bathroom. Then he wants to put on running shoes. Will Sheep #68 ever do what he's supposed to?
Kerry Lyn Sparrow's hilarious picture book story offers a new take on a universal experience. Using delaying tactics to avoid going to sleep at bedtime is a common routine for young children, and they'll love the sly humor when Duncan's own tricks get turned on him by the (sheepish) sheep. In subtle colors with lots of telling details, Guillaume Perreault's illustrations bring Duncan's bedtime rituals and his unexpected sheep guests humorously to life. This book makes a fantastic, funny read-aloud, appealing to both children and adults.

Do you like this book?
Yep! Because I love sheeps. And I don't like to sleep.

What's your favorite part of the book?
The part where the sheep was taking the socks on and off. It was funny.

What do you think of the cover?
I like the sheep! And he's wearing socks.

Sleep, Sheep! Is a great about about a little boy who just will not go to sleep. He does everything he can to make excuses not to go to bed. He was scared of the dark, had to potty, was too hot, etc. 

So then once his mom found solutions to every excuse, she told him to count sheep. See all of the sheep with the numbers was absolutely adorable.

The artwork is great, and as a parent I can relate to kiddos not going to sleep.

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Kerry is an elementary school teacher who lives on a farm in Antrim (blink and you'll miss it!) in the Ottawa Valley with her husband, Neil, their two young boys, Robert and Ole, and their dog, Lily. A city girl most of her life, she has grown to love muddy creeks, rogue cows and, yes, even John Deere tractors.
Sleep, Sheep! is Kerry's first published book. She wrote the first draft of it in 2011, when she was teaching an amazing group of grade-four students in Arnprior. The class, teacher included, would write for ten minutes a day about whatever topic inspired them in whichever form they chose. Between the poems, letters and newscasts the students came up with each day, Sleep, Sheep! was born.
Kerry's mom was the first to read Sleep, Sheep!, shortly before she passed away in 2014. Inspired by her mom's faith in her ability as a writer, Kerry decided to submit her manuscript to a publisher. On a cold winter day, ice-skating with the kids in the barn (yes, the barn!), she got an email from Kids Can Press that began a new adventure for her as a published author.