The Little Elephant Who Wants to Fall Asleep by Carl-Johan Forssen Ehrlin - OPTIONAL

Ehrlin, Carl-Johan Forssen.  The Little Elephant Who Wants to Fall Asleep, illustrated by Sydney Hanson. Crown, 2016.  $16.99.  Content: G.  PICTURE BOOK. 

Building on the popularity of his New York Times bestselling picture book, The Rabbit Who Wants to Fall Asleep, author Carl-Johan Forssen Ehrlin creates a similarly sleep inducing story about an elephant named Ella.  Ella doesn’t do very much, besides walk through the forest and see animals as they are going to sleep.  And then Ella goes to sleep on the last page.  The word “sleep” appears numerous times on each page.  There is a beautifully illustrated full-page picture on one side and a full page of text on the other.  The illustrations are soft and in cool tones; supposedly, to help with the sleepy feeling.  The story is not interesting, but the author says that it is not supposed to be.  The purpose of the story is to help children fall asleep.  The author provides several pages of tips at the end of the book to help readers create a bedtime routine for their children.  Some tips include using different tones of voice while reading and use of repetition. 

Pre-K, EL-OPTIONAL.  Samantha Hastings, MA, MLS.