Review - Sheep 101

Sheep 101
by Richard T. Morris
illustrated by LeUyen Pham
Date: 2018
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Reading level: C
Book type: picture book
Pages: 49
Format: e-book
Source: library

A time-honored bedtime ritual gets a new twist in this rollicking mash-up of counting sheep and nursery rhyme characters.

One night, a boy counts sheep as he tries to fall asleep. 99. 100. 101.... Crash! Sheep 101 is stuck in the fence. Will he ever get out and get the little boy to sleep?

Meet Sheep 101 and his colorful cast of characters, like Humpty Dumpty, Blind Mouse, Little Piggy, and more!

From Richard T. Morris, author of This Is a Moose, and beloved illustrator LeUyen Pham comes a hilarious story with vibrant illustrations full of late-night hijinks that will spark every child's imagination.

(synopsis from Goodreads)

Despite what the title makes it sound like, this is not the companion textbook to an agriculture class. This is a story about Sheep 101, who runs into trouble while jumping over the fence. Chaos ensues, and it seems unlikely that anyone is going to fall asleep.

The pictures surprised me. I really like them! The characters are cute. The sheep are varied. Familiar characters make an appearance, everyone from Mother Goose to LEGO. The whole story takes place on a little boy's quilt as he's getting ready for bed, so the backdrops are simple and consistent, and the whole book is heavy on relaxing tones of sleepy blue and purple.

I'm not sure if this is really a read-aloud title, since the entire narrative is character dialogue (it's almost like a graphic novel). It's more the sort of thing kids could look at by themselves. But it's quite cute, and I enjoyed reading it and found myself smiling at 101's predicament.

Quotable moment:

Premise: 4/5
Meter: n/a
Writing: 3/5
Illustrations: 4/5
Originality: 4/5

Enjoyment: 4/5

Overall: 3.83 out of 5