#292 of 1001 · May 19, 2021

Here’s an ode to those moments when somnolence hangs thick and silent over all: So Sleepy Story by Uri Shulevitz. In the middle of the night, a house lies filled with sleeping objects. Strange music floats in through the window, and everything—chairs, dishes, cabinets—gradually wakes up and begins to dance. Then, the music fades away and the house drifts back into slumber. Shulevitz uses the simplicity of the story as an exercise in linguistic experimentation, the repetition of the word “sleepy” (and of the reduplicative phrase “sleepy sleepy”) taking on a lulling, rhythmic quality. He externalizes the sleepiness of the house, playfully illustrating the inanimate objects with sleeping faces, which naturally turn wakeful when the unexplained music makes its entrance. #sleepy #story #night #house #music #dance #book #books #childrensbooks #beautifulbook #beautifulbooks #beautifulbookcovers #picturebook #picturebooks #picturebookillustration #picturebookart #childrensbookillustration #childrensliterature #illustration #kidlit #kidsbooks #bookworm #booklover #booklovers #bibliophile #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #bookstagrammers #instabook #instabooks