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Sweet Dreams: How Animals Sleep
In rhythmic words and affecting pictures, this inviting picture book introduces young children to a world of sleeping creatures. Some animals, like bats, sleep upside down, while others, like koalas and lions, snore up in the trees. Sharks, on the other hand, sleep with their eyes open wide so they won't miss a potential meal.
Animals large and small all have good reasons for sleeping the way they do, and Kimiko Kajikawa explores their particular and often humorous habits in this charming ode to bedtime. Sweet Dreams is a 2000 Bank Street - Best Children's Book of the Year.
Animals large and small all have good reasons for sleeping the way they do, and Kimiko Kajikawa explores their particular and often humorous habits in this charming ode to bedtime. Sweet Dreams is a 2000 Bank Street - Best Children's Book of the Year.
32 pages, Hardcover
Published April 15, 1999
2 people are currently reading
25 people want to read
About the author
Kimiko Kajikawa
5 books10 followersKimiko's true love of reading and writing began one day at her local library. Kimiko says, "My local librarian asked me if I had ever read Harriet the Spy. She said that it was a great book, and I immediately took it home. I read the entire book that day! I was so disappointed when it ended that I reread it immediately. I had to find a way to keep the spirit of Harriet the Spy alive with me, so I began to keep a journal. And spy on people. I did not follow anyone, but I would try to pick up what people were saying, and I would study their mannerisms. I think Harriet the Spy was the book that got me to write because I really started to look at the world and put down what I saw on paper."
By fifth grade, Kimiko won an essay contest sponsored by the Philadelphia Inquirer. Her essay was about Abraham Lincoln and her victory earned her $3. At that moment, Kimiko concluded that, "Writing was a great way to make a living."
Kimiko won another writing contest when she was twelve, and this time she got to spend a day at the Bucks County Courier Times writing her own column. "I loved it. They took me around and introduced me to all the people that put the newspaper together. I felt like somebody special until they ran my photo in the paper. I was horrified that everyone at school would see it. I looked so nerdy!"
In high school, Kimiko was published in Seventeen Magazine. She was also the assistant editor and columnist for her high school newspaper. "At that point," Kimiko says, "I told my parents that I wanted to become a writer. My parents were unhappy with my decision. They told me that I should become a businesswoman instead."
Kimiko's mom is Japanese and her dad is American. Her parents met after World War II. They didn't even speak the same language when they were married.
Her mom was born in Tokyo in 1929. In an essay that Kimiko wrote when she was in eighth grade, she said, "There are no pictures of my mother when she was a child because they were all burned during the war. My mother was eleven years old when World War II started. During the war, she sometimes only had toothpaste to eat. And she would often see burned bodies on the side of the road. All the bodies were black, she would say, except for the teeth."
During the war, Kimiko's mother lost nine relatives in one day during the bombing of Hiroshima. Soon after the war, Kimiko's grandmother died of cancer. The very next day, her aunt fell from a train and died from head injuries. Kimiko says, "My mom's life is filled with tragic stories that she rarely tells."
"In fact, my family has been the inspiration for most of my books. I credit my son, Chris, for starting my career as an author. When he was little, he fell in love with trains. What Chris wanted most in the world was a book with photographs of steam trains for young children. Fortunately, for me, that book didn't exist. After two years of searching, I decided to write and photograph the book that Chris so desperately wanted to read."
According to Kimiko, "Working on my books has helped me make sense of my life and helped me deal with the pain of growing up Eurasian. There were children in my neighborhood who wouldn't play with me when I was a kid. Some of them threw rocks at me and called me, "slanty eyes." Having grown up wishing I looked like most everyone else, I understand how important it is to give children an awareness and appreciation of our external differences and a realization that, underneath it all, we are very much the same. I feel that through teaching children to respect others we give them something even more important: self-respect."
"For several years, I have truly enjoyed reading old Japanese folklore and adapting those stories for an American audience. This is very therapeutic work for me. When I was little, I would go to sleep and wish that I would wake up looking like all the other kids. Now, I take pride in my heritage. Writing books has helped me grow as a person. I
By fifth grade, Kimiko won an essay contest sponsored by the Philadelphia Inquirer. Her essay was about Abraham Lincoln and her victory earned her $3. At that moment, Kimiko concluded that, "Writing was a great way to make a living."
Kimiko won another writing contest when she was twelve, and this time she got to spend a day at the Bucks County Courier Times writing her own column. "I loved it. They took me around and introduced me to all the people that put the newspaper together. I felt like somebody special until they ran my photo in the paper. I was horrified that everyone at school would see it. I looked so nerdy!"
In high school, Kimiko was published in Seventeen Magazine. She was also the assistant editor and columnist for her high school newspaper. "At that point," Kimiko says, "I told my parents that I wanted to become a writer. My parents were unhappy with my decision. They told me that I should become a businesswoman instead."
Kimiko's mom is Japanese and her dad is American. Her parents met after World War II. They didn't even speak the same language when they were married.
Her mom was born in Tokyo in 1929. In an essay that Kimiko wrote when she was in eighth grade, she said, "There are no pictures of my mother when she was a child because they were all burned during the war. My mother was eleven years old when World War II started. During the war, she sometimes only had toothpaste to eat. And she would often see burned bodies on the side of the road. All the bodies were black, she would say, except for the teeth."
During the war, Kimiko's mother lost nine relatives in one day during the bombing of Hiroshima. Soon after the war, Kimiko's grandmother died of cancer. The very next day, her aunt fell from a train and died from head injuries. Kimiko says, "My mom's life is filled with tragic stories that she rarely tells."
"In fact, my family has been the inspiration for most of my books. I credit my son, Chris, for starting my career as an author. When he was little, he fell in love with trains. What Chris wanted most in the world was a book with photographs of steam trains for young children. Fortunately, for me, that book didn't exist. After two years of searching, I decided to write and photograph the book that Chris so desperately wanted to read."
According to Kimiko, "Working on my books has helped me make sense of my life and helped me deal with the pain of growing up Eurasian. There were children in my neighborhood who wouldn't play with me when I was a kid. Some of them threw rocks at me and called me, "slanty eyes." Having grown up wishing I looked like most everyone else, I understand how important it is to give children an awareness and appreciation of our external differences and a realization that, underneath it all, we are very much the same. I feel that through teaching children to respect others we give them something even more important: self-respect."
"For several years, I have truly enjoyed reading old Japanese folklore and adapting those stories for an American audience. This is very therapeutic work for me. When I was little, I would go to sleep and wish that I would wake up looking like all the other kids. Now, I take pride in my heritage. Writing books has helped me grow as a person. I
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
April 6, 2009
"In unobtrusively rhyming captions and intimate photographs from a variety of sources, Kajikawa captures animals both wild and domestic asleep in their natural habitats. The creatures come from land and sea, and their bedtime practices are diverse. Lions, said to "sleep wherever they please," are shown draped languidly over the boughs of a tree; horses "stand up straight and tall"; sharks "rest with eyes open wide." The last spread includes photos of a napping baby and mom and of a young girl, while the text makes the anticipated overture to readers: "Everyone sleeps in a different way./How will you go to sleep today?" The appealing book design gives equal space to the photos and to the facing captions, which are set on photo-sized blank ground; both captions and photos are bordered in nursery-room yellow with muted blue motifs. Cleverly, this book goes beyond standard bedtime fare with its ample and intriguing endnotes, which offer a detailed paragraph on each animal's sleeping habits. Thoughtfully conceived, attractively executed." -- Publishers Weekly
September 19, 2009
Library book - I picked this book out particularly. Charlotte really likes photographs of real animals, and it's very hard to find books with appropriately simple and brief text. This was perfect - a photograph of a sleeping animal on one page, and a line of rhyming prose opposite. Charlotte enjoyed identifying the animals, and I like most rhyming bedtime books that aren't too cutesy.
September 26, 2017
Sweet Dreams: How Do You Sleep?
“In rhythmic words and affecting pictures, this inviting picture book introduces young children to a world of sleeping creatures. Some animals, like bats, sleep upside down, while others, like koalas and lions, snore up in the trees. Sharks, on the other hand, sleep with their eyes open wide so they won’t miss a potential meal. Animals large and small all have good reasons for sleeping the way they do, and Kimiko Kajikawa explores their particular and often humorous habits in this charming ode to bedtime. Sweet Dreams is a 2000 Bank Street- Best Children’s Boom of the Year.”
I rated this book with 5 stars. I really enjoyed this book because it shows different animals and their reasons for the way they sleep which can be very different depending on the animal. I think this book would be great for beginning readers to learn about real animals and how they sleep.
“In rhythmic words and affecting pictures, this inviting picture book introduces young children to a world of sleeping creatures. Some animals, like bats, sleep upside down, while others, like koalas and lions, snore up in the trees. Sharks, on the other hand, sleep with their eyes open wide so they won’t miss a potential meal. Animals large and small all have good reasons for sleeping the way they do, and Kimiko Kajikawa explores their particular and often humorous habits in this charming ode to bedtime. Sweet Dreams is a 2000 Bank Street- Best Children’s Boom of the Year.”
I rated this book with 5 stars. I really enjoyed this book because it shows different animals and their reasons for the way they sleep which can be very different depending on the animal. I think this book would be great for beginning readers to learn about real animals and how they sleep.
April 8, 2024
Cute photograph book with how different animals sleep. Perfect for rest time or bedtime.
July 5, 2025
Cute children's book about a variety of animals, and how they sleep.
January 15, 2014
Pretty darned adorable, I must say. Combining photos of real animals with rhyming sentences, this book would make a unique addition to storytime. Information for each animal is provided in the back of the book with more details about how each animal sleeps, and includes thoughtful questions for discussions when reading to an individual child.
May 26, 2012
This is a simple, but sweet story about different animals and how they sleep. The rhyming narrative and sweet pictures will entertain young children and it's a good book for bedtime. Our girls may be too old for this kind of book, but I found it to be a nice little story.
January 17, 2015
This is a calming picture book on how animals sleep. Simple text partners well with candid photographs of animals sleeping. Probably good for toddler/baby storytime. I tried it on pre-school children but not sure if it was as well received.
July 19, 2010
The cover alone, with its curled up koala, deserves an "Awwww!" Photos capture ways animals sleep. The text is rhyming and simple with more information included at the end. Sweet.
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December 16, 2010Here Come the Animals! unit 2
Theme Library
Theme Library
April 15, 2014
Amazing pictures of different animals sleeping (like sharks, sea otters, and flamingos).
Read
July 19, 2017Tales for Two's - Bedtime Storytime
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews