Baby bedtime by Mem Fox

Ill. by Emma Quay. Penguin, 2013. ISBN 9780670075195.
(Age: 0-3) Recommended. Picture book. Love. Verse.  With words written by Mem Fox at the birth of her grandson, Theo, love for a newborn baby seeps through every word. Each line begins with 'I could', giving a sentence about what a parent or carer will do with the baby, making it snug and secure within that person's circle of love and protection. All the while the baby is being taken upstairs, the curtains drawn, the blind pulled down, showing the stages of the routine in putting a child down to bed for the night. Books appear on most pages, either as part of the routine of the carer reading a story to the baby before he goes to bed, or else as part of the background to the child's room, in a shelf of books.
Produced in a sumptuous softly padded hard cover edition, this book cries out to be read and re-read as a child goes to bed for the night, adding another stage in the routine of night time for the child. Parents too will love to read aloud Mem's text, marvelling at the soft words used to educe sleepiness and calm.
The illustrations taken from items found in a charity shop, reflect knitted and crocheted garments along with different textures of woven material, and used with soft colours, reflect the world of the baby as he goes to bed at night.
Fran Knight