All the Animals Were Sleeping

This is a beautiful book. As always Løvlie’s illustrations evoke a sense of texture and are strong on colour - you can almost feel the brush of the long grass and sense the swoop of the vast Serengeti skies as sunset colours melt into dark night. The flow of the story is matched by the panels of illustration, with four panels over two pages when the mongoose is on the move and one spread over two pages when the mongoose is still, looking on at the different animals as they sleep. The story has the lilt of poetry to it with repetition within sentences and of the key line ‘All the animals were sleeping’, which gives Welsh’s text a soothing, peaceful sense. In short, it’s one of those ideal ‘just before bed’ books.

The book doesn’t stop there, however, as it also contains information on different animals and their sleeping habits at the back of the book, so it’s also a lovely accessible way of introducing children to the idea of non-fiction. The non-fiction element also allows the book to appeal to older children as well (butterflies have no eyelids!) and so you’ll have a wide audience for this wonderful book!