Sleepytime by Joe Brumm

Reviewed by Kristin

Or, a love letter to the creators of Bluey books and episodes, from Kristin

In case you haven’t heard of Bluey, she is a cartoon dog. She has a little sister named Bingo, and they live in Australia with Mum and Dad. The show has attracted worldwide attention and is now showing on Disney Plus. The shows and the books can be viewed and read on many different levels, which seems to be why adults like Bluey as much as their kids.

Bluey and Bingo love to play. You won’t find any alphabet songs, number games, or learning to go potty here. They learn through play with their friends and their parents. They go with Mum and/or Dad to the creek, the beach, or the playground. They have cookouts and picnics with family friends. There is much laughter, silliness, and love. The background music is often classical, and the theme song is an earworm.

I have found that some of the paperback books published are a little stilted, as if someone decided to take a show script and copy and paste it into a book. That’s not entirely a bad thing, as adults may want to avoid screens with their young children, whether at bedtime or not.

Sleepytime, however, is another story (no pun intended). Both the episode and the book are beautifully presented. Little sister Bingo is the focus of this story, as she decides that she wants to do a “Big Girl sleep” and wake up in her own bed. Mum has read Bingo a bedtime story or two, tucks her in, and says, “Remember, I’m always here if you need me.”

Bingo drifts off to sleep and begins to dream of floating through the universe. Her bunny Floppy floats along with her, swooping past suns and planets. It’s about this point that I realized Bingo’s dreams are actually related to her sleepwalking into a variety of other beds. As she finds a really big planet and decides it’s fun to jump on, Bluey joins in (as they both kick Dad, aka the big planet).

As Bingo continues to travel the universe (and her blanket slips off) she becomes cold, and is drawn to an approaching warm sphere of light, which of course, is Mum. Mum tucks Bingo in again, and says, “Remember, I’ll always be here for you. Even if you can’t see me. Because I love you.” (Cue the tears from the adults…)

I highly recommend this as a peaceful bedtime story for toddlers and pre-schoolers.