Reviews: (by author)

Karwoski, Gail Langer. Water Beds: Sleeping in the Ocean. Illus. Connie McLennan. Mt. Pleasant SC: SylvanDell, 2005. ISBN 0-9764943-1-0. $ 15.95. 32 pp.

The story's red-pajamed "Little Person" is about to go to sleep. As he drifts, he imagines the sleeping habits of marine mammals like walruses, seals, otters, and dolphins. Turns out they all have different ways of getting through the night; I found the information very interesting myself; moreover, Karwoski uses a poetic narrative voice: "Belugas float like white clouds..," or "Northern fur seals sleep in a heap.." Or this about walruses: ".they bob like buoys on the brine."
In each two-page illustration, the young human sleeper appears amid the snoozing denizens of the deep-he is snuggled up with harbor seals or floating on kelp beds with otters. McLennan's paintings are extraordinary, adding much to the rhythmic, affectionate text. Details abound, such as the many marine items in the little person's room.

I highly recommend this fine collaboration as a bedtime story book or an anytime entertainment.

A. Allison, March 2006

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