GOOD NIGHT, COPYCUB

In this snooze-inducing companion to Copy Me, Copycub (1999) and Always Copycub (2002), a mother bear takes her wakeful youngling on an imaginary nighttime stroll, past a sleeping goose drifting on a moonlit lake, a moose sacked out beneath a tree, and a hare sprawled out in the grass. Though the bears never actually leave their cozy den, Winter turns Mother Bear’s tale into a literal outing, placing pale golden figures into peaceful woodland settings in subdued, soft-edged paintings. She suggests that when he can’t sleep, he can do what he does best: copy them. This time, at least, the power of suggestion works: Copycub nestles down in a bed of autumn leaves, thinks of those sleeping creatures, and is soon “floating in his dreams like a goose on a starry lake. Safe and sound.” An effective soother for restless toddlers. (Picture book. 3-5)