Where Will the Sleepy Sheep Sleep?

By David Metzenthen

Illustrated by Jonathan Bentley

Reviewed by Mia Macrossan

David has long been a writer of award winning middle grade books such as Boys of Blood and Bone, One Minute’s Silence and Augustin and the Hot Air Balloon which was long listed in the Book Links Award for Children’s Historical Fiction. His books are always worth a read. Jonathan Bentley is the illustrator of over forty picture books, nine of which he wrote, including the award winning  Ella and the Ocean by Lian Tanner. Where Will the Sleepy Sheep Sleep? is a challenging  tongue twister constructed as  a series of questions with predictable answers that will keep children laughing and desperate to turn the pages.

Example: Where will the sleepy sheep sleep? Do you think the sleepy sheep will sleep on the of this wild and windy hill? Turn the page – Baah! No-o-o, the windy hill is far too high and wild for a sleepy sheep to sleep on!

He tries a stony valley, where the foxes hunt and the dingoes howl, a small dark and damp cave, wet long spiky grass. What about a burnt and blackened hollow log? He does finally find the perfect place and we say goodnight to the sleepy sheep.

The bold illustrations show a very woolly very tired, baggy-eyed sheep getting more and more desperate. My favourite is the sleepy sheep trying to stuff itself into the burnt and blackened hollow log.

This is a perfect bedtime story, funny, full of the alliteration and repetition that children adore. Just think of all those delicious new words they are learning.

Allen & Unwin Children 2023