Lena's Sleep Sheep Read online

  THIS IS A BORZOI BOOK PUBLISHED BY ALFRED A. KNOPF

  Copyright © 2013 by Anita Lobel

  All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Alfred A. Knopf, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.

  Knopf, Borzoi Books, and the colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.

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  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Lobel, Anita.

  Lena’s sleep sheep : a going-to-bed book / Anita Lobel. — 1st ed.

  p. cm.

  Summary: Lena wants the sheep she counts at bedtime to meet another of her nighttime friends, but they think the moon is a monster and are afraid.

  ISBN 978-0-449-81025-5 (trade) — ISBN 978-0-449-81026-2 (lib. bdg.) — ISBN 978-0-449-81027-9 (ebook)

  [1. Bedtime—Fiction. 2. Sheep—Fiction. 3. Moon—Fiction.] I. Title.

  PZ7.L7794Len 2013

  [E]—dc23

  2012028378

  Illustrations were created using gouache and watercolor.

  Random House Children’s Books supports the First Amendment and celebrates the right to read.

  v3.1

  With love for Lena, who has a permanent

  invitation to fall asleep on my couch

  Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  First Page

  About the Author

  Lena was cozy in bed.

  Mama and Papa hugged and

  kissed her good night.

  “Please don’t close the curtains, Papa,” Lena said.

  “The moon is nice and round tonight.”

  “Won’t it keep you awake?” asked Mama.

  “No,” said Lena. “He will keep me company.”

  “Until my sheep come,” she thought.

  “They will like his sweet face, too.”

  As soon as Mama and Papa left,

  Lena whispered, “Come out, come out, my woolly friends!

  I’m ready to count you now.

  One sheep, two sheep, three sheep …,” she began.

  But tonight, something was not right.

  Lena’s sleep sheep would not line up.

  “Why are you hiding from me?” Lena asked.

  “We’re sca-a-a-a-a-red!” the sheep baa-a-a-a-a-ed together.

  “What are you scared of?” she asked.

  “There’s a round monster in the window,

  making faces at us!” they cried.

  “He looks hungry and ready for a sheep snack.”

  “You silly sheep,” Lena laughed.

  “That round thing is not a monster.

  It is the moon in the night sky.

  He’s not hungry. He’s already full.”

  But the sheep were still scared.

  “I have to do something about this,”

  Lena thought.

  Then Lena had a good idea.

  “Listen, sheep friends,” she said. “Go into my closet.

  You will find clothes to dress up in.

  The moon will not know you are sheep.”

  The sheep did as they were told.

  They found all sorts of fun things to wear.

  Hidden in Lena’s clothes,

  they were not scared anymore.

  “You clever sheep, you!” Lena said.

  “Now, please go to work!

  “One sheep, two sheep, three sheep, four sheep, fi—”

  Lena stopped counting.

  The sheep were clumsy in their costumes.

  They were baa-ing and bleating and bumping into each other.

  “This isn’t working!” Lena cried.

  Then something happened.

  One of the sheep pointed at the window.

  “Look, look! The round monster is gone!” she baa-a-a-a-a-ed.

  Lena saw that the moon had slipped behind a cloud.

  “Stay there for now, good moon,” she thought.

  “Clever sheep!” Lena said.

  “You scared the monster away.

  Now you can get out of your disguises

  and help me fall asleep.”

  The sheep took off their costumes.

  Light as air, they rose up to form a nice, neat line above the bed.

  Lena began to count.

  “One sheep, two sheep, three sheep, four … five … six … seven … eight…,” she mumbled. “Nine … ten … eleve … e … e … n …”

  She did not even get to twelve

  before she fell fast asleep.

  Peeking out from behind his cloud,

  the moon seemed to whisper,

  “Good night, silly sheep.

  And good night, lovely Lena.”

  ANITA LOBEL is well known and well loved by picturebook fans young and old. She received a Caldecott Honor for her illustrations in On Market Street, and her memoir, No Pretty Pictures: A Child of War, was a finalist for the National Book Award. Books she has both written and illustrated include Alison’s Zinnia; One Lighthouse, One Moon; 10 Hungry Rabbits; and Nini Lost and Found, which was a Booklist Editors’ Choice and a Horn Book Fanfare. The idea for this bedtime book came out of Anita’s granddaughter’s arrival in New York City during warnings of a hurricane. She made a cozy nest on Anita’s couch for two days and nights. She had no need of sheep, but they were an obvious addition to a sleep book.

  Ms. Lobel lives in New York City and Vermont. You can visit her gallery of paintings, as well as see a list of her books, at anita-lobel.com.

 

 

  Anita Lobel, Lena's Sleep Sheep

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