Good Night, Chickie

Chickie, who bears more than a passing resemblance to a marshmallow Peep, is having abandonment fears as the lights go out. But rather than admit his anxieties, he displaces them onto his lovey, a stuffed blue bunny: "Mother Hen! Mother Hen! Are you there? Bunny can't hear you." After a long string of assurances from Mother Hen (whose cool, chic demeanor points to this book's French origins), Chickie is ready to call it a night—on his own terms, of course. "You see, Bunny, Mother Hen is there," he says as he blissfully dozes off. "So stop worrying. Let me sleep now!" With just a few items—bed sheets, a door, a staircase—contributing to the setting, Jadoul is a minimalist, but his big, rounded shapes, thick ink outlines, forceful brushstrokes, and expanses of bright colors do more visual and emotional work than a truckload of detail. The target audience knows all too well how a bed can go from feeling cozy to lonely to cozy again, and Jadoul strikes the right balance between flattering kids' independence and acknowledging their uncertainties. Ages 2–5. (Jan.)