Little Bodhi And The Wide Awake Night

For the child who is not tired yet.

Bodhi listened to the evening bell, lay down, and waited for the sleepy feeling. It did not come. His legs wanted to run, his arms wanted to swing, and the wiggle went up and up until his hands were dancing.

Nobody tells Bodhi to calm down and go back to bed. Instead he goes out under the moon and finds Monkey, who is wide awake too, and Turtle, who makes his feet heavy, and Crane, who counts the stars, and Puppy, who is asleep with his legs still running, and Cat, lying in a pale square of moonlight.

This is a bedtime picture book about the energy a child still has left at the end of the day. It does not promise sleep, because falling asleep is not something a child can do on purpose. It promises something smaller that can actually be kept. The wide awake feeling gets small enough to sleep beside.

Inside the book:

• Fourteen quiet spreads, about 450 words, made to be read in one sitting with the lights low
• A breathing refrain that repeats three times, so a child can say it along with you by the second reading
• A Note For Grown-Ups on why a wiggly bedtime is a body with something still in it rather than stalling
• Three Things To Try Together: Shake Like Monkey, Walk Like Turtle, Rest Like Cat
• Warm flat illustrations in a night palette, with no screens, no scolding, and no grown-ups in the story

Book two of Little Bodhi And The Animal Sangha. Every book gives one animal one feeling and keeps the same calm shape, so a child who knows one book already knows how the next one goes. Reading age 3 to 7.