Sheep Won't Sleep

Reviewed by: Sheila Dube - Springvale Public Library, Springvale, Southern Maine Library District

Review Date: March 9, 2018

Review

Cox has knitted up a colorful way to introduced young readers to counting by 1, 2s, 5s and 10s. Clarissa is having trouble falling asleep so she envisions 10 white sheep jumping over a stile. It hasn't put her to sleep, but has added 10 nosy, busy sheep to her room. The sheep suggest counting pairs of alpacas which are "as colorful as Clarissa's basket of yarn." And so the pattern goes to llamas and yaks. When she gets to counting yaks by 10 she gives up the counting and starts unwinding them until she has a huge ball of yarn that she knits into an afghan by morning. This is a clever way of presenting this math concept. Cuneo's brightly colored illustrations were created by pen and digital ink. They show all the various animals in miniature, adding to the charm.

Overall Book Score: very good