Count­ing sheep for bed­time takes on a Jew­ish twist!

This love­ly book tack­les a famil­iar issue with chil­dren: the rejec­tion of bed­time and dif­fi­cul­ty in going to sleep. Many chil­dren fight bed­time, feel­ing they are about to miss out on life and play­time when they turn in for the night. A moth­er, tired-out by the ongo­ing night­ly bat­tle, sug­gests a solu­tion. Bub­by is here for the night, and she will take over Sara’s falling-asleep issue in her imag­i­na­tive way. Bub­by is a favorite and Sara wel­comes the idea enthusiastically.

The world of imag­i­na­tion is uni­ver­sal and every child loves to pre­tend. Sara is no dif­fer­ent. So, when Bub­by sug­gests that she is on a white, fluffy cloud, Sara ris­es to the occa­sion. When said cloud turns out to be a long line of fluffy sleep-sheep, Sara is even more excit­ed. Then Bub­by asks her to name each sheep, describe its look, and put it to sleep. Sara names the last of the sheep after her­self and now that she has com­plet­ed the task of putting all the sleepy sheep to bed, she feels her job is done and she can fol­low them to sleep, as well. 

This cre­ative sto­ry is accom­pa­nied by sim­ple, pleas­ant, sooth­ing draw­ings. It’s a won­der­ful bed­time read-aloud and a fun imag­i­na­tive game for an adult and child to play togeth­er. It is clear­ly geared toward an Ortho­dox read­er­ship but the idea can be adapt­ed for anyone’s delight­ful bed­time experience.

A glos­sary of asso­ci­at­ed terms and rit­u­als is append­ed as well as a note to par­ents with some excel­lent advice about how to make children’s bed­time eas­i­er for the whole family.

Rec­om­mend­ed for ages 2 – 5 and for tired par­ents who could use a bit of sup­port and a cre­ative approach.