An overtired lion can't fall asleep. Arlo's lids droop. His eyes sag. He flops over a tree branch. But sleep eludes him no matter where he lies down. "The grass was too prickly, and the earth was too hard.…The sun was too hot, but the night was too cold." Arlo's downright exhausted--and then an owl sings him a quieting meditation: "Think about the places where you'd like to be, / the things that you'd do there and what you might see. / Relax your whole body, slow your breathing right down, / imagine you're sinking into the soft ground." (The melody is left to readers.) The song works! In the excitement and vigor that follows hours of sleep, Arlo accidentally wakes others, but it's OK--they, too, can use the song. Rayner's tale is never frenetic, not even early on: Arlo's fatigue is of heavy, tousled woe, not crankiness. His mane--teeming with pencil lines, ink lines, watercolors, light blue and lavender bits, what looks like the residue from popped bubbles, and black and brown curvy zigzags--never looks busy; though nonrepresentational, it looks utterly organic (and spellbinding). Owl's feathers are speckled, splotched, and splattered, using one palette in multiple patterns. Landscapes are alluringly tranquil, and Arlo's own yellows and browns harmonize with dusk's burnt oranges. Scale varies dramatically, always with purpose. The whiskers and eyelids of the sleeping lions of Arlo's pride show, via the most delicate lines, that sleep is bliss. Pair with Deborah Freedman's Shy (2016). Gentle and gorgeous. (Picture book. 3-7) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Arlo the lion cub can't sleep. The grass is too prickly, the earth too hard, the trees too noisy, the desert too quiet, and his family wriggles too much. Then Owl sings him a song urging him to relax and think pleasant thoughts, and he gently drifts off. The next morning, Arlo returns the favor for Owl. Rayner's soothing language effectively sets the stage for addressing a frequent childhood problem: "As you fall into calmness, so comfortable and deep, / your mind will rest and you'll drift off to sleep." The lullaby portion of the story appears in wavy lines, emphasizing its lyric qualities. Rayner's full-bleed mixed-media spreads skillfully depict the flora and fauna of an African savanna. She makes good use of vivid hues for the sky (orange and red for morning; blue and pink at dusk; and indigos for night); wildlife is drawn realistically, although some poses (i.e., Arlo dancing to Owl's song) are more whimsical. This may not calm every toddler, but many will find it a welcome soporific.