Mary had A Sleepy Sheep
Author: Julia Dweck
Illustrator: Wilson Williams, Jr.
Publisher: Xist Publishing
Date: September 5, 2013
About the Author
Julia Dweck writes children's stories for digital and traditional publication. Her stories span the spectrum of humor, fantasy, and edutainment in rhyme and in prose. Julia's background in elementary education affords her the opportunity to be in touch with what children want to read about and what makes them giggle.
A New Twist on a Beloved Nursery Rhyme
Ms. Dweck has written an entertaining "altered nursery rhyme" that kids will absolutely love.
Mary had a little lamb...and a big problem. The "sleepy sheep" was always falling asleep in the wrong places and sleeping way too much. I am not a doctor, but it sounds like this poor lamb was suffering from narcolepsy.
Mary tried everything she could think of to keep her lamb awake. Nothing seemed to work until she remembered what people do when they CAN'T sleep.
My Thoughts
I really enjoyed this rhyming story about Mary and her "sleepy sheep". I read the book on my Kindle Fire. There are four lines of text with each full-screen color illustration. The formatting is excellent and the illustrations are outstanding. I love the landscape orientation and the way the pages fill the entire screen.
This is a fun and light-hearted story. There might be children who can relate to the lamb's problem of sleeping too much. This is also a good lesson in problem solving...Mary was very persistent.
There are some surprises at the end of the story. The author shares the text of the original "Mary had a Little Lamb" nursery rhyme. She also reveals that a little mouse named "Whiskers" is hidden on each page. This will have kids eagerly searching each and every page until they locate the mouse. The final treats are Activity Pages and a list of the author's favorite links to fun sites on the Internet.
This story is appropriate for reading aloud to young children or independent reading for older students. I don't think kids ever get tired of reading/hearing a beloved Mother Goose rhyme.
Highly Recommended!
My Rating: 5 Stars Out Of 5
FYI ~ I received a complimentary digital copy of this book from the publisher. This book is available to pre-order on Amazon.Com and will be released next week.
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