Sleepy Bird

In this fourth outing, it’s bedtime, and Bird—blue and bean-shaped, with a cockatoo-like crest—isn’t ready to say goodnight yet. As Bird attempts to find friends to join him in staying gloriously and defiantly wide-awake, he’s disappointed: “Fox was too sleepy to play. So Bird went to find Beaver. ‘It’s bedtime, Bird,’ said Beaver.” Tankard’s raucous digital artwork provides visual depth through thick, black outlines and backgrounds filled with bright, smoky textures and scraggly lines. A meta element comes in the form of the bedtime stories the animal friends are reading: the very book they are currently in, as well as previous books in the series. Bird eventually sleeps, but not for long—much to the chagrin of his weary friends, who come to serve as stand-ins for sleep-deprived parents. Ages 3–5. (May)