Wake Up, Sleep Tight - Hardcover

Like Wilson-Max's Halala Means Welcome: A Book of Zulu Words , this exuberant picture book is both playful and instructive. Here the concept is telling time and the passing of time. Two very simple board books are joined together in a flip-around format, one about the morning, one about going to bed at night; each book is just four double-page spreads. A cutout circular clock face with clear numbers and movable hands can be seen on all the pages. The big, bold pictures in bright colors with thick black lines show a multicultural cast, with a different family and a simple rhyme on every spread. Wake Up begins early in the morning with a toddler bouncing on her parents' bed ("It's 7 o'clock. It's a beautiful day. Wake up, wake up. I'm ready to play"). Sleep Tight begins at 5 o'clock when a boy eats with his family ("Baby, Mommy, Doggy, and me"); then a dad reads to his kids at 7 o'clock; and it all ends with good night at 9. Kids will begin to learn about telling time as they recognize the family routines that we all share in our own way. Hazel Rochman