Let Me Sleep, Sheep!

Amos is counting himself to sleep. It's a good plan, until the cranky sheep land in his bedroom -- and start in with their many demands.

It's bedtime for Amos, who smiles as he closes his eyes and counts some fluffy sheep trotting away in the grass. Until suddenly . . . THUD. And then another. "Not again " says the first sheep, now on Amos's floor. "I was having my wool clipped," grumbles the second. None too happy at being interrupted, the woolly pair fire a battery of questions at Amos, most importantly: "Where's the fence?" So Amos sets out to build one to their specifications, then is asked to test it out, of course. . . . In this laugh-out-loud read-aloud, a couple of crafty sheep put a child through his paces -- and show that a tuckered-out kid at bedtime is a win-win all around.

Meg McKinlay is the author of Duck for a Day and No Bears, bothillustrated by Leila Rudge, as well as the middle-grade novels Below and A Single Stone. She lives in Australia.

Leila Rudge is the author-illustrator of Gary and A Perfect Place for Ted and the illustrator of Duck for a Day by Meg McKinlay.She lives in Australia.