Where Do Creatures Sleep Collection
Where Do Creatures Sleep at Night
Where Do Big Creatures Sleep at Night
Where Do Ocean Creatures Sleep at Night
Steven J. Simmons, author
Steven J. Simmons has been a professor of law and government, a White House aide on domestic policy, and a leader in the cable industry. Steven is the author of the best-selling children's book, Alice and Greta: A Tale of Two Witches.
Read more about Steven.
Clifford R. Simmons, author
Clifford R. Simmons's lifelong passion for writing and love for his nieces and nephews fuels his enthusiasm for children's books and co-authorship with his father, Steven. Cliff formerly worked at Google and now runs his own business.
Read more about Clifford.
Ruth Harper, illustrator
Ruth Harper is a self-taught artist from England. She loves to echo nature in her work. She lives in Iowa with an adorable husband—they have six grown-up kids between them (plus handfuls of grandbabies!). She is the illustrator of the NYT bestseller The Kissing Hand (with Nancy M. Leak), Sassafras, and Happy Mamas.
Read more about Ruth.
- Coming soon!
Where Do Creatures Sleep at Night
Kirkus Reviews
What do animals do when children are sleeping? Featuring creatures young children are likely to know, this book has the answers. Each spread’s left-hand page describes the animal’s daytime activities, while the right focuses on nighttime behaviors. Realistic watercolor illustrations highlight the animals and, for the night scenes, incorporate the midnight blue introduced on the endpapers. Golden moonlight encircles sleeping creatures, including a frog, ducks, and horses. Young readers will easily recognize the brilliant fluttering daytime butterflies and see children feeding a pet goldfish or playing with another pet. The three or four couplets on each spread end in rhyme (with a fun bush/shushhh pair) or near rhyme (down/found, sleep/feet, line/eye, safe/late). Given the couplets and rhyme, readers may expect a rhythmic read, but the lack of consistent meter makes smooth reading a challenge. However, unusual nighttime facts are a plus. “With tiny clawed feet, [a butterfly] hangs upside-down, / making it difficult to be found.” Goldfish sleep with their eyes open since they have no eyelids; ducks sometimes sleep in a line, with the first and last guarding the rest; bees’ antennae droop. (Unfortunately, both illustration and text incorrectly imply that bees’ comb is aligned horizontally instead of vertically.) Although the story ends with a bedtime message, most listeners will probably not be sleepy at the end. Recurring child characters present White, with one scene including racially diverse friends. This may not encourage sleep, but it probably will prompt more questions about animals after dark.
Where Do Big Creatures Sleep at Night?
Children's Literature
Where Do Big Creatures Sleep? is an artistic, well told and engaging nonfiction book. The book draws the reader in with recognizable toy animals, and asks the question, where do they sleep? The book then continues in rhyming verse, to give interesting information about a wide variety of big creatures from gorillas and elephants to kangaroos, bears and crocodiles, to name just a few. Each page has a number of general facts about the creature and then looks at how they sleep. The rhyming format engages the reader's attention and is a sure way to effectively inform a child’s play, imagination and knowledge. The illustrations are beautiful, colorful and crystal clear. Overall, the format of the book and illustrations combine to draw the reader in, engage them, maintain their attention and extend their curiosity. Where Do Big Creatures Sleep? is a real treasure of a book to read at any time, not just as a calming bedtime read.
Where Do Ocean Creatures Sleep at Night?
Kirkus Reviews
An answer to the titular question—and then some. “When it is time for these animals to rest / where do they go to sleep their best?” The authors offer very brief bits of information on various sea creatures, among them stingrays, walruses, clownfish, bottlenose dolphins, sea otters, and great white sharks. In addition to sleeping habits, we also learn other facts, such as what seahorses eat and how the parrotfish got its name. The book opens with images of racially diverse children playing at the beach; it closes with a child cuddled up in bed. A brief authors’ note stresses the importance of sleep for children. Contradicting the title, not all creatures here are diurnal. The statement that “the octopus can sleep by day or night” is misleading, given that most species are nocturnal. Many fascinating facts are overlooked; we learn that sea turtles have hard shells and live to be 80 years old and that they rest under rocks or coral but not that they hold their breath for hours while sleeping. Though watercolor illustrations in various shades of blue offer sweetly expressive depictions of the animals, the verse format adds little to the text; uncertain meter foreshadows weak rhythm and rhyme. Visually attractive but doesn’t dive very deep.
Three Hardcover Books
SKU: SIM24
Ages: 3-7
Page count per book: 32
Book size (each): 10 1/2 x 9 1/2