Kirkus Reviews

A gentle litany of good nights, ostensibly from various animals to their young (It's time for bed, little mouse, little mouse,/Darkness is falling all over the house'') but mostly more apposite to their human counterparts (It's time for bed, little calf, little calf,/What happened today that made you laugh?''), ending, inevitably, with a human mother tucking in a child. Fox's couplets seem offhand compared to her best (e.g., Shoes from Grandpa, 1990); but some of Dyer's expansive double-spread watercolors are charming; their points of view are so close in that some animals appear life-size (the bees are oversize). Best are the shaggy, drowsy, contented ewe and her lamb; repeated on the jacket, they guarantee a constant audience for this appealing bedtime book. (Picture book. 2-6)"

ALA Booklist

Both parents and children should like this cozy good-night story. Against a blanket of blue sky full of golden stars, mother animals are putting their babies to sleep. Although the rhyme at times limps rather than lilts (It's time for bed, little mouse, little mouse, / Darkness is falling all over the house), there's a warmth to this that makes the whole more than the sum of its parts. Of course, one of the important parts is the art--striking watercolors that fill up the two-page spreads, showing a sheep and a lamb, a dog and a puppy, a cow and a calf, and others, the babies all with heavy lids, and the mothers affectionately nestling their young. The last mother-child duo is a mom and her curly-headed tot, who is wished sweet dreams and in the last picture is sound asleep. A pleasant prelude to slumber. (Reviewed Oct. 1, 1993)

Horn Book

A series of animal and human parents prepare their young for bed as darkness falls in this lullaby of rhyming couplets by the noted Australian author. The soothing text and sympathetic illustrations of parent-and-child pairs provide a fine bedtime story.

School Library Journal

PreS-Gr 2-Charming illustrations and comfortable rhymes characterize this appealing bedtime book. A twilight mood is set by dusky endpapers sprinkled with twinkling yellow stars, and by a title page showing a mother reading to a child. Double-page spreads feature animal pairs, each with a parent settling its offspring down for the night. An orange tabby kitten receives a soothing bath, a sleepy blue bird is tucked into a warm nest, and a delicate fawn curls up against its mother. Each babe is lulled by a gently rhyming couplet beginning with the phrase, ``It's time for bed.'' Dyer's watercolor illustrations are dear. Large, clearly drawn animals are placed against backgrounds of vivid hues. A variety of landscapes keeps each scene looking fresh as a foal settles down in a moonlit meadow, a pair of fish blow bubbles in blue water, and two snakes curl up in overgrown grass. Working beautifully with the soothingly repetitive text, each painting conveys a warm feeling of safety and affection. A wonderful bedfellow for Ginsburg's Asleep, Asleep (Greenwillow, 1992).-Joy Fleishhacker, New York Public Library

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

Filling each spread, Dyer's (illustrator of the Piggins books and of Baby Bear's Bedtime Book ) commanding yet gentle, large-scale watercolors are the key to the appeal of this bedtime lullaby. Fox ( Possum Magic ; Guess What? ) offers sweet but slim verse that bids good night to a selection of animals being cuddled and coddled by their mothers, all endearingly rendered at eye-level. The rhymed couplets have a pleasantly lilting rhythm, if an occasionally trite rhyme scheme: It's time for bed, little sheep, little sheep, / The whole wide world is going to sleep.'' After viewing the various animals nodding off, youngsters will take their bedtime cue from a cherubic toddler, whose blond head falls into a pillow covered with golden stars as mother offers a hug and the text concludes:The stars on high are shining bright-- / Sweet dreams, my darling, sleep well . . . / good night!'' Ages 2-6. (Sept.)