Storytime: How Do You Sleep?

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته

 Today we read How Do You Sleep?

How Do You Sleep? is a book that has a familiar rhyme that children may easily recognize. This recognition may encourage children to attempt reading along with you after hearing the story read a loud a few times. Each page presents an animal that is commonly found on or around a farm and the author asks each animal how they sleep. But this simple question becomes one full of teaching and learning as the location where each animal sleeps is woven into the question and children learn not only where some animals sleep but how they sleep (i.e. standing up, on or in the water, etc.). The story ends by asking two children how they sleep and we see a father sitting bedside reading to his children as they prepare for bed. They then snuggle deep within the covers and drift off to sleep.

The oil paint illustrations are done with beautiful colours and are very soft. I enjoy reading stories that have illustrations such as these out loud to children because after lunch or when the classroom is bustling with energy, these type of drawings seem to have a calming affect on children...waallaahu a'lam.

I also believe that children very much have the capacity and ability to appreciate beautiful things and they react differently to materials that are crafted beautifully or to pictures that are simply stunning. This book is one that can be read aloud easily but it also lends itself to taking time to pause and allow the child(ren) to explore the illustrations. Allow them to notice the soft lines that make up the birds feathers, the light that shimmers off of the bears fur, the bumps on the frogs skin, and other details. While the illustrations are not stunning, they are well done and children may appreciate them...waallaahu a'lam.