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Summary
Summary
A New York Times /New York Public Library Best Illustrated Children's Book of 2022 ★ Stretch like a giraffe and snuggle like a meerkat with Bo and Mommy as they get ready for bed!
It's time for bed, but little Bo isn't ready to stop playing quite yet! As his mother gamely guides him through his nighttime routine, he imitates various animals--a hibernating bear after eating a snack, a snuggling sea otter when taking a bath, a coiled python while curling up under the covers... Mommy joins in on the fun and keeps one step ahead of Bo until he falls asleep, soaring like a bird into the world of dreams.
A lively and imaginative take on getting ready for bed that celebrates creative family play and the joyous love between mother and son.
Author Notes
Kjersti Annesdatter Skomsvold made her literary debut in 2009 with the novel The Faster I Walk, The Smaller I Am , which was shortlisted for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award in 2013, and awarded the prestigious national Vesaas First Book Prize and nominated for the Norwegian Booksellers'Prize in 2009. Monsterhuman , Skomsvold's second novel, was shortlisted for the NRK radio P2 Listeners' Prize and was nominated for Best Norwegian Book of 2012 by the magazine Natt & Dag . Her third novel, 33 , was published in 2014, and in 2017, she published The Child , an acclaimed, highly personal novel about love and childbirth. A versatile and prodigious writer, Skomsvold writes fiction, poetry, and children's books. In 2021, she published the picture book Bedtime for Bo , in collaboration with artist Mari Kanstad Johnsen.
Mari Kanstad Johnsen is an awarded and acclaimed visual artist, children's book author, and illustrator. She has a bachelor's degree from Oslo National Academy of the Arts and a master's from Konstfack University of Arts, Crafts & Design in Stockholm. In 2012, Kanstad Johnsen's illustration for picture book Vivaldi won a Gold Award for Illustration in the National Norwegian Graphic Design Awards and was included in Flavorwire 's list of "The 20 Most Beautiful Children's Books of All Time." In 2017, she was honored to receive a special mention for Jeg Rømmer (I'm Out of Here) at the international Bologna Ragazzi Awards. Mari Kanstad Johnsen has illustrated for several newspapers and magazines, including the New York Times .
Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, Kari Dickson grew up bilingually, as her mother is Norwegian and her grandparents could not speak English. She holds a B.A. in Scandinavian studies and an M.A. in translation.
Reviews (3)
Publisher's Weekly Review
A child adopts different animals' nocturnal habits while winding down for bed in this fact-filled translation. Over the course of a pre-bed snack, bath time, tooth-brushing, and tuck-in, pink-skinned, blond-haired Mommy and child Bo insert wildlife-filled adventure into their routine. Once Bo gets the game started by standing on one leg like a sleeping parrot, Mommy continues, suggesting that in the bath Bo make like a walrus: "You can hook your long tusks over the ice and hang on. Then you won't float away," she says, prompting Bo to bite the tub. While Bo's restive antics provide a dash of goofiness, Mommy's dialogue takes a more educational slant--emphasizing the why behind different critters' approaches to rest, from sea otters to bats to meerkats. Johnsen's multicolored drawings have a loosely rendered, busy feel; jam-packed domestic scenes overflow with creatures, toys, and a rambunctious energy that make this volume a "wild" read. Ages 3--8. (Aug.)
Horn Book Review
"Bedtime!" is a call that can elicit groans of dread from young children and caregivers alike. While Bo performs "tumblesaults on the sofa and sings as loud as he can," his mother yawns in the background. When she beckons him for bed, he responds, "I'm already asleep!" A parrot, he argues, sleeps as he does -- standing on one foot. On the next spread vivid pinks, blues, and yellows cascade away from a parrot standing just like Bo on the previous page. Playing along, his mother offers her little parrot something to eat. With encyclopedic knowledge of many animals' sleeping habits, Bo's mother slowly but surely edges her clever offspring closer to his bed: getting a snack of blueberries and porridge before hibernating like a bear; washing up, stretching his neck like a giraffe in front of the bathroom mirror. Finally, Bo snuggles beneath a mound of brightly colored stuffed animals like a "mob of meerkats," and his mom lies, worn out, on the couch downstairs. Thin and energetic outlines delineate Bo and his mother from the many colorful creatures that surround them, creating a sense of before-bed chaos and blurring the lines between their home and the habitats they envision together. An imaginative, informative, and reassuring bedtime story; pair with Grimes and Zunon's Bedtime for Sweet Creatures (rev. 1/20). Grace McKinney July/August 2022 p.101(c) Copyright 2022. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
Bedtime has never been so interesting! Bo, a light-skinned toddler with blond hair, has thoughts and ideas! Perhaps you know a toddler like him? Assuming positions that would make a well-trained yogi jealous, Bo plays on the couch surrounded by toy and pets. As evening approaches and Bo's mother starts the evening bedtime routine, Bo has his own plans. Instead of going to bed, Bo claims he is a parrot and stands on one leg. Bo's mother agrees and, joining in with his imaginative play, flies him off to the kitchen for his evening meal. He stuffs himself like a bear and attempts to hibernate under the kitchen table, but Mommy insists that he has to wash first. Then Bo becomes a sea otter and a walrus and so on until he's finally in bed asleep. Translated from Norwegian, the story is delightful and enforces how savvy caregivers can direct and encourage learning, even in quiet moments when children are brushing their teeth or climbing into bed. The mixed-media illustrations, however, steal the show. With a bold fluidity of hand-drawn lines, vibrant colors, and the occasional hint of the cheeky humor that made Maurice Sendak and Tomi Ungerer famous, Johnsen creates a lush world that children will want to study night after night. The combination of text and illustration transforms into something sublime. (This book was reviewed digitally.) Don't sleep on this book; it's magnificent! (Picture book. 4-8) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
