The Sleeper Train

Proust-like remembrances meld with a personal travelogue in this transportive bedtime story. As a train chugs through the night, a restless child tucked into a compartment with their Indian- and Sikh-presenting parents tries to summon slumber, recalling “all the different places I have slept.” Anecdotal lines provide an account: at home between Mum and Dad, on a beach towel, in the hospital for an operation, and “in the bedroom that used to be my mum’s room when she was a girl,” among others. Breaking to consider “just me and the train driver, both wide awake,” and other sleepless children who might hear the locomotive, the reminiscences, coupled with the rocking cars, prove soporific—and at last add another locale for the child’s future recollections. Jackson’s first-person narration layers feelings of comfort and warmth across time and space, and Kaur’s saturated illustrations employ electric pinks, purples, and teals to render decorative motifs alongside the train and a range of lushly rendered locales. Ages 3–7. (July)