Two books about bedtime, two very different flavours! 
A Bedtime for Bear
by Bonny Becker
Candlewick Press
ISBN: 978 0 7636 4101 6
Audience: ages 3-7
Not – surprise! – a hibernation story, this very cute story is actually about a bear who needs things just so and his friend Mouse, who comes for a sleepover. Bear is not a welcoming host, and insists on absolute silence, while Mouse is in a far more sociable mood than his friend. It turns out that Bear might just find some benefit in having Mouse around, in the end, though…
This story really is adorable and funny in the best ways, and exactly the kind of wonderful book I’ve come to expect from Candlewick. Kady McDonald Denton’s illustrations always add just the right touch, too, and this is no exception, as she captures Mouse’s jaunty enthusiasm and Bear’s amusing stuffiness perfectly. This is a bedtime story with plenty of charm and a humour sly enough for even a slightly older child’s enjoyment.
Interrupting Chicken
by David Ezra Stein
Candlewick Press
ISBN: 978 0 7636 4168 9
Audience: ages 5-9
A much broader humour defines this story of a small chicken who cannot contain himself as his father attempts to read him a bedtime story. You see, Chicken knows what’s going to happen and he really wants to save Little Red Riding Hood from the wolf! And Chicken Little from making a fool of himself! And! And! And! Yeah. He makes storytime a leetle bit difficult for his poor old dad.
Not only is this book louder and more wildly funny, but the humour is also aimed at an older kid, or at least one who will recognize the stories and not need the lines filled in for them. (I’m going to use this for a grade one class this month – I think they will love it!) The illustrations suit the tone of this book well, too, being bolder and brighter, and providing a fun contrast between the pages of the story books and the story being told in this book. I love how when chicken inserts herself into the story, she appears right in the pages of the story book, too – it’s a great effect. It seems I’m not the only one who thought this was a lot of fun and really well executed, either – it was recently awarded a Caldecott honor!