How to Make a Bedtime
Age 6+
How do you make a perfect bedtime? An award-winning author and acclaimed illustrator craft a soothing picture book sure to inspire sweet dreams every night.
When the sun’s light is fading and night’s on the rise,
it's time to start yawning your sleepy goodbyes.
Time for snuggling and snoozing and slumbering now.
Time for making your bedtime, and I'll show you how.
Inside a wonderfully warm home, a cuddly parental bear guides a young child through their bonding bedtime routine. A sloshy bath, soft pajamas, a song for singing, a huggily hug before a story, then it’s bedtime at last. Cozy, appealing illustrations by Karen Blair accompany author Meg McKinlay’s melodic, rhyming text in a picture book that little ones and their caretakers will want to incorporate into their own nightly rituals.
Creators
Meg McKinlay is the author of eighteen books ranging from picture books and young adult fiction through to poetry for adults. Raised in central Victoria, in a TV- and car-free household, Meg was a bookish kid, in love with words and excited by dictionaries. On the long and winding path to becoming a children’s writer, she has worked a variety of jobs including swim instructor, tour guide, translator and teacher. Meg is now a full-time writer and lives near the ocean in Fremantle, Western Australia, where she is always busy cooking up more books.
Karen Blair grew up in Perth, Western Australia. She loves to illustrate the joys and adventures of childhood. She lives in Fremantle with her husband and two children and works part-time as a primary-school art teacher. Her characters are often inspired by her students and her own children. Her award-winning books include Something Wonderful and Hello From Nowhere, by Raewyn Caisley, With Nan, by Tania Cox, Granny Grommet and Me by Dianne Wolfer, Me and You by Deborah Kelly, Baby Beats, and Baby Animal Farm.
Reviews
An artfully constructed bedtime book.
Kirkus Reviews
McKinlay imbues the familiar routine with low-key, teasing suspense and inventive endearments, while Blair offers the fantasy of a caregiver whose furry snout, loving gaze, and warm, pajamaed bulk supply endless patience and ideal hugs.
Publishers Weekly
McKinlay’s rhyming text is both lulling and lively as the youngster, adorned with a soap-bubble beard, plays with a rubber duckie. . . . Blair deftly employs soothing colors in her illustrations, capturing the coziness of this warm ritual; the large bear never feels imposing, and the child’s sleepy body language is sweet. . . . A bear hug of a book that could become a bedtime favorite.
The Horn Book
