Sleep by Kate Prendergast

Old Barn Books, 2018. ISBN 9781910646229
(Age: 3-6) Recommended. Themes: Animals. Sleep. Kate Prendergast's non-fiction picture book uses vivid illustrations to show where animals rest and sleep. Her bright close-up paintings use a colour palette reminiscent of 1960's children's books with swirls, dark shading and patterns of oranges, reds, yellows and greens. Each animal is shown asleep, some at home, in the barn, in the field or nests. Whilst creating this engaging book, Kate discovered the plight of most of these animals facing destruction of their habitat by humans. As you share this story with a young audience, take time to discuss the different ways animals rest or sleep, how and where this occurs and why sleep is important to both animals and humans.
Harvest mice sleep curled up in their nests, whilst snails sleep in their shells atop a resting tortoise. Bats sleep during the day and fish sleep with their eyes open. Take time to wonder about the places, physical conditions as you share the easy to read facts, sometimes with added notes that accompany the close-up illustrations. Prendergast includes 'Some Amazing Animal Facts' just right for starting to engage with scientific facts and for researching. Discover facts about cathemeral harvest-mice, mobs of meerkats sleep in heaps, giraffes that sleep for only 20 minutes a day and hibernating bears.
Sleep by Kate Prendergast is a factual picture book, a great resource for pre-schoolers and junior primary classes developing an awareness of the needs of living things and beginning to investigate how the environment supports life.
Rhyllis Bignell