COUNTDOWN TO BEDTIME

A young porcupine and a raccoon get ready for bed in this rambunctious countdown tale. There are ten minutes to go before it’s bedtime, but pals Bandit and Spike are too busy playing. While the species may be different, the bedtime routine (and attendant delaying tactics) will be familiar to young children as the pair have one last snack, brush their teeth, and do the obligatory check for monsters under the bed before lights out. Haines captures a youngster’s remarkable ability to eke out the last morsels of fun to be had in those final minutes prior to sleep. Printed across the top of each page in large typeface is the number of minutes remaining; along the bottom is a question about Spike and Bandit’s nighttime rituals. The accompanying illustration in the center of each page depicts the frisky pair engaged in a related activity and features anywhere from one large lift-the-flap to a myriad of little flaps revealing the duo’s pre-sleep antics. Melling’s brightly colored illustrations revel in the high-spirited hijinks that are part and parcel of tots toddling off to bed. If readers peer closely, they will find the appropriate numeral hidden in each illustration; a number-five–shaped sponge at bathtime, a bottle marked number two lurking in the medicine cabinet, etc. Filled with cheeky humor and engaging lift-the-flaps, this may not send little ones right off to dreamland, but they’re bound to have buckets of fun in the process. (Picture book. 2-5)