Bedtime in the Southwest

Since I live in Arizona and am familiar with the animals used in the story, I found this book especially delightful. All of the excuses children come up with as a reason to not go to bed, such as wanting a drink of water, are illustrated in this novel. It's silly. It's cute. It's fun. The pictures are well done and enjoyable to peruse. I wish my children were still young enough to enjoy this story. I'm sure they'd want me to read it to them over and over again, and especially right before bed.

Renee Graef provides the beautiful Southwest influenced drawings to accompany Mona Hodgson's Bedtime In The Southwest, a story of a Southwest critter who balks at bedtime. A rhyming lullaby helps kids make the transition to a restful night in this fun survey of animal reactions to bedtime.

I love BEDTIME IN THE SOUTHWEST. Three things struck me immediately. I love the bedtime story itself. It is perfectly soothing as all bedtime stories should be, yet it carries with it a subtle but vital message simultaneously celebrating individual differences. Second, the art is utterly charming and just as lovely and gentlly evocative as works by past masters such as Thatcher Hurd and Abe Birnbaum, especially the cover that incorporates all the characters in one glorious panorama. Finally, BEDTIME IN THE SOUTHWEST will be great for inquisitive and gifted little ones who will want to find nonfiction books and ask their parents questions about the individual species such as the quail and the roadrunner or the coyote and their particular traits that are featured in the goodnight scenarios. All this is one book. That's terrific. Who could possibly ask for more?

Delightful told in a rhyming lullaby text by author Mona Hodgson and enhanced with imaginative illustrations by Renee Graef, Bedtime In The Southwest showcases comically defined bedtime behaviors by a number of animals found in the Southwest. Do rabbits hop into their beds? Do porcupines poke quills into their pillows? Do wolves stare at the sky and howl at the moon when it's time to go to bed? Bedtime In The Southwest is a perfect bedtime reading experience for preschool through kindergarten children and ideal for a parent bedtime bonding read aloud with any boy or girl.

Absolutely delightful illustrations (by Renee Graef) and rhyming content (by Mona Hodgson) in this lighthearted, bedtime book. By showing what *not* to do through the antics of unique southwest critters, Bedtime in the Southwest helps kids learn about obeying parents. My kids are beyond this impressionable age, but if this book was available back then, I certainly would have read them Bedtime in the Southwest. For a helpful parenting resource see The Birth to Five Book: Confident Childrearing Right from the Start