When the World is Ready for Bed by Gillian Shields

September 2009, Bloomsbury

32 pages, Hardback

Review copy

Children's

Clouds: 5

Pencils: 5

Smiles: 4

Yunaleska's recommended rating: ♥♥♥♥♥

Smile My initial reaction when I saw the cover - cute! Bunnies (rabbits, if we're using correct terms. I generally don't because this is a Yuna review!) are my favourite animal. Who can resist these three sweet young bunnies? The front cover, although hard back, is slightly padded, making it stand out from other hardback books. I like this strange padding. It creates fluffy feelings (sentimental, cute - that's my definition of fluffy) which increase as I open the book, see the cottage pencilled in the first pages, and a curled up animal on the page with the credits.

All that cuteness before the story begins. When the World Is Ready For Bed tells the story of what happens as daylight fades. Over pages using what looks like watercolour and ink (I'm no artist), we follow the family of bunnies through their night time routine, which mirrors that of ours. From the warm, steaming stew (which had me thinking 'mmm, dinner'), the children help tidy up the room which encourages those reading it to do the same. Then they talk about what they did during the day before bath time (the younger bunny doesn't look as if he/she is enjoying all those bubbles). Toys are found, a book is read. Prayers are last, then bend (after a shooting star sighting). The best pages for me were when the three bunnies are curled up on the bed, two snuggled down under the duvet and one top top, holding it's blanket.

The rhyming story will be memorable for both parents and children, and would make a great book to read before bed. It teaches the importance of routine, and is just sweet to look at.

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