Little Quack's Bedtime by Lauren Thompson

Little Quack's Bedtime is a sweet boardbook that falls into the Good-Night category. My children --who really are a bit old for this book)-- loved it, as did their father (and me, of course).

The artwork is cute, and manages to be both colorful and suitably muted. Kudos to Derek Anderson for managing that. And Lauren Thompson does a good job of leading little people to their own bedtime by having the little ducklings doze off one by one.

The story begins with an introduction of Mother Duck and her babies; Widdle, Waddle, Piddle, Puddle, and Little Quack. It then follows through the motions of Mother telling the ducklings that it's time for bed. The ducklings, of course, get distracted by the goings on around them - flashing fireflies, waving branches... -- but one by one they fall asleep.

Besides the kid-friendly artwork, and the sleepytime countdown, I particularly like that the author touches on the 'scary things' issue. After Waddle shuts his eyes to sleep, Piddle, Puddle, and Little Quack see something and exclaim, "Look, Mama, look!... What's that moving in the dark?" To which Mama replies;

"That's the tree that you play beside. That's what is moving in the dark. Now it's sleepy time, little ducklings."

I think this little segment helps children to realize that sometimes even very familiar things look different in the dark.

Considerations:::
Little Quack's Bedtime is an excellent little bedtime book. It's a tiny bit longer than some other nighttime reads; but as we parents well know, some nights demand a little extra time to relax.

The Accelerated Reading level of Little Quack's Bedtime is 2.3 which means that the average 2nd Grader in the 3rd Month of school should be able to read it without getting frustrated by the vocabularly.