No go sleep! / by Kate Feiffer ; illustrated by Jules Feiffer.

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

A baby--finally--falls asleep with the rest of the world in this soothing picture book from Kate and Jules Feiffer.

And the sun said,
"I've gone for the day.
When you wake up,
I'll be back to play."

Even though the stars are out and the moon is bright, the baby says, "No, go, sleep!" But as the world around the baby gradually goes to sleep--first the sun, then the moon, then the sheep, tree, and owl--the baby finally, finally, finally falls asleep too. Lyrically written, this lulling text, paired with soothing art, will put even the youngest reader in the mood to visit dreamland.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Publishers Weekly Review

"No go sleep!" insists a baby, and clearly his parents aren't going to change his mind. But the rest of the world is more than ready to call it a day, and celestial bodies, nearby animals, a car driving down the street, and even the front door give it the old college try. "When you wake up, I'll be back to play," promises the sun. "Who? Yes me," pledges the owl. "I'll stay awake and watch over you." "No!" says the stubborn baby, seemingly immune to this cosmic persuasion, though his eyes say otherwise. Kate Feiffer, who last collaborated with her father on My Side of the Car, has written the perfect go-to book for the go-to-sleep impaired. With its lulling tone and gentle, comic cajoling, it has nightly must-read written all over it. Jules Feiffer's legendary ink lines beautifully capture a nascent human in all his lumpy discontent. Especially revelatory is how he conjures up the beauty of a starry, marine-blue night and all the creatures and things that go into making the world reassuringly benevolent. Ages 3-7. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

School Library Journal Review

PreS-K-In this charming picture book, a baby speaks only a few words. But babies don't have to say much to have the world revolve around them. The parents' gentle nudges toward bedtime fall flat, so the sun steps in, saying, "I've gone for the day. When you wake up, I'll be back to play." Baby, still wide-eyed and frenetic, then hears from the moon, stars, a car, birds, frogs, bunnies, an owl, a tree, sheep, and various creatures and things inside the house, each closer and closer to the crib and its fretful occupant. Jules Feiffer's wonderful, mildly zany informality warms every image, and he super-soaks the pages in deliciously intense watercolors. Some of the text is lilting, some quirky; unlike Goodnight Moon, for instance, this isn't a lullaby in disguise. Will the book ease a child to sleep? Maybe, maybe not. What it will do is distract and entertain-and maybe even cheer up the weary adults who find themselves in a similar situation.-Susan Weitz, formerly at Spencer-Van Etten School District, Spencer, NY (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Booklist Review

Father and daughter Jules and Kate Feiffer have joined forces again, with this traditional-feeling bedtime story. A restless baby proclaims, No go sleep! Mommy and Daddy offer quiet words of encouragement to no avail, and even the sun, the moon, the bunnies, and the owls try to allay the baby's fears. Page after page of friends, animate and inanimate, offer their own personal promises of safety and security the stars say, We'll twinkle and sprinkle sweet dreams down to you. The baby, unconvinced, says, NO! but soon closes his eyes and falls asleep. Kate Feiffer's deceptively simple text, occupying a narrow band at the bottom of each page, establishes a remarkable variety of characters in a few spare, convincing words. The homey quality of Jules Feiffer's almost mussy illustrations reflects the baby's fidgety unease, while careful use of color and light evoke the coming tranquility of dusk. Peppered with bits of irreverent, contemporary whims, the story's repetitive pattern will lull little ones to sleep, night after night.--Barthelmess, Thom Copyright 2010 Booklist

Horn Book Review

Everybody wants the baby to close his eyes and go to sleep, not just the mommy and daddy, but the sun, the moon, the stars, the door, the animals just outside baby's window, the indoor animals, even baby's toys and shoes ("We're just too tired to walk another step. Good night"). Each one reassures Baby that all is well and that everything will still be in place when it awakens. But Baby stubbornly insists "No go sleep!" before finally closing its eyes and, quickly, succumbing. The text sounds like a game a clever parent would devise to lull a baby to sleep; structurally the narrative seems to have been inspired by Margaret Wise Brown in that it's composed of a long series of sentences each beginning with the word and. The sketchy lines of the cartoon illustrations are classic Jules Feiffer, showing the baby with eyes wide open and limbs stretched toward the world beyond the crib. Bedtime blues and greens predominate in the watercolor washes over the pen-and-ink lines, so even the pictures are joining in the go-to-sleep chorus. kathleen t. horning (c) Copyright 2012. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Kirkus Book Review

(Picture book 2-5)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.