Consider this book the antidote to Go the F**k to Sleep. After Dad says, "Good night, Stella... Time to go to bed," he disappears from the scene. It's up to Stella, with her patient demeanor and boundless imagination, to get Cherry Pig, Thunderbolt the mouse puppet and Beanbag Frog to sleep. She closes the book she's been reading to them, and points the way to their room. While Cherry Pig and Thunderbolt tell Stella how wide awake they are, Beanbag Frog shows her with his "hoppety-hop" down the hall. "Stoppety-stop!" says Stella. "It's time to go to sleep."
Sean Taylor (A Monster Is Born) uses gentle rhyme and a bravado refrain to engage young readers in this nighttime tale. Each of Stella's companions proclaims he or she is "the world champion of staying awake!" but Stella gamely meets the challenge. Jimmy Liao's (The Monster Who Ate Darkness) impeccably paced illustrations toggle realistic scenes with the fantasy action. In a series of vignettes, the heroine proclaims her pillow a ship for her three passengers. A double-page ocean scene follows, teeming with jellyfish and seahorses: "The pillow ship rocks./ The pillow ship sways." The cruise does the trick for Cherry Pig, but Stella's work continues until the other two fall asleep (with the aid of a shoebox train and a basket balloon). When everyone's sleeping ("Not a croak. Not a bounce. Not a hoppety-hop"), an exhausted Stella joins them. Within a crowded field of bedtime books, this one stands out for the heroine's independence and imagination as she navigates her companions to sleep. --Jennifer M. Brown, children's editor, Shelf Awareness