ALA Booklist (Wed Nov 01 00:00:00 CST 2006)

The rhyme scheme is as lilting as a lullaby, and Dyer's ineffably sweet watercolor illustrations enrich this bedtime story. With winter-nights scenes always in the background, a series of animal folk is sleeping, snuggled in nests as cozy as can be. A black bear, its den under the roots of a tree, sits in a chair by the fireplace, covered by a quilt. A little frog may be asleep at the bottom of a stream, but it's tucked into its bed, and it wears a striped muffler, just as the fish do. A box turtle snoozes in a hammock underground (wearing boxing gloves), and a toad dozes in its library, a manual typewriter by its side. The book ends with a directive to the listener: And even YOU, it's time for sleep, / so snuggle down and burrow deep.

Horn Book (Wed Aug 01 00:00:00 CDT 2007)

Snore, little skunk, snore. / Turn over and snore some more.

Kirkus Reviews

Mother and daughter's latest collaboration is a wintry lullaby for hibernating animals. Gentle rhyming verses sing the creatures off to dreamland, while also providing at least one fact about each long, winter nap, i.e., frogs sleep under the ice at the bottom of a stream while snakes breathe more slowly. The final page sends a young child off to sleep, cozy and warm in bed, and surrounded by stuffed versions of all the hibernating animals. Dyer's artwork is a mixture of realistically portrayed animals and fanciful notions of what their homes and clothes might look like. While some will be viewed by young children as cute animals in their houses, other illustrations will confuse the younger audience for whom this book is intended. So, for instance, the box turtle sleeps in a hammock underground with boxing gloves on and jump-rope in hand. A good read-aloud for a particularly cold and frosty night, it's just too bad the busy artwork with hidden meanings works against the gentle lullaby. (Picture book. 3-6)

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

Dyer (<EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">Mama Always Comes Home), herself the daughter of illustrator Jane Dyer, joins the mother-daughter team of Yolen and Stemple (previously paired for <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">The Salem Witch Trials) to celebrate the joys of a long, cozy wintertime snooze. With a sleeping human child as the framing character, the authors visit the homes of 12 hibernating, pleasingly anthropormorphized animals. (The final page reveals that all the animals have a corresponding stuffed toy representative on the child's bed.) Each gets its own lullaby-like verse. For a girly skunk asleep in her boudoir, the authors write, "Snore, little skunk, snore,/ Turn over, snore some more./ The winter winds may howl and wail;/ Your den is closed with snow and hail./ But you know spring will never fail./ Snore, little skunk, snore." Dyer's consistently adorable watercolors especially stand out when she finds comic inspiration in the hallmark qualities of her animal cast. A beaver sleeps in a hard hat, surrounded by blueprints for next year's dams; the normally frenetic chipmunk snoozes in a track suit, gripping the shoestrings of his running shoes. Sweet and warmly comforting, this is the picture book equivalent of a cup of hot cocoa. Ages 2-6. <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">(Feb.)

School Library Journal

PreS-Gr 1-In this musical whisper of a book, various animals settle down for a winter's nap, assured that spring will wake them to reenter the warmer, more active world. Each page features a lullaby with language quirky enough to raise a smile-for instance: "Snore, little skunk, snore,/Turn over, snore some more./The winter winds may howl and wail;/Your den is closed with snow and hail./But you know spring will never fail./Snore, little skunk, snore." Complementing the comfort and reassurance of the text are Dyer's cozy and humorous illustrations. Frog cuddles up under a leaf-patterned comforter, warmed by her pink-striped scarf. Her ice skates are poised at the bedpost and her figure-skating trophy decorates the text on the opposing page. Badger, dressed like Sherlock Holmes, sneaks in some reading with his magnifying glass as he rests by a roaring fire in his underground den. Dyer deftly inserts details of pattern and personality using gentle, appealing colors. The painting of chipmunk snoozing in his running suit, surrounded by sneakers, is a hoot. The culmination of the book, on a blue background that might be flecked with snow or with stars, is, aptly, a message to children: "And even YOU, it's time for sleep,/So snuggle down and burrow deep./The sheet and quilt will keep you warm/Through winter or through summer storm/Till you awaken in the morn./Sleep, my little child, sleep." Soothing, soporific, and magnetic, this is a special winter bedtime book.-Susan Weitz, formerly at Spencer-Van Etten School District, Spencer, NY Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information.