By Carly Smith
Grab Your Pillow, Armadillo is the pre-bedtime book your family needs to read! This simple, silly, cheerful book will leave your little one in a great mood, ready for a night of comfort and sweet dreams. In the book, the authors use rhyme to say goodnight to a variety of animals. Unlike most children’s and baby books that stick to a particular animal theme (e.g., farm animals, jungle animals, animals that fly), Grab Your Pillow, Armadillo brings readers face-to-face with a mélange of critters including trout, bumblebees, sharks, and seals. Page by page, each animal can be found under a flap, and each animal has its own bedtime routine. It won’t be long before little ones are excited to look behind the flap and finish the sentence.
There is a lot about this book that draws me in as a primary school teacher and parent to a toddler and a baby. First, the pages are thick and colourful without being overstimulating; this means that text and illustrations grasp attention evenly, so readers and listeners are neither lost in a sea of imagery nor solely concentrating on the words. Second, the ways of saying goodnight differ from animal to animal. Typically, I value repetition in children’s books, but in this case the variation keeps story time lighthearted and lively.
The illustrations are beautiful. Haily Meyers combines texture with simplicity to create beautiful pictures of animals and landscapes with the perfect amount of detail. I imagine the illustrations will inspire little ones who like drawing to take new risks with their interests, and I can also see how Haily’s work could be the base for a great art lesson in a primary classroom. Finally, the text font is just right; it is large and bold and imitates neat and tidy adult printing. It complements the illustrations and tone of the book very well.
Although the book is short and humorous, it nevertheless creates space for follow-up conversations with your little one. It affords the opportunity to learn about animals and their habitats and to practice less common adjectives and verbs. It may trigger an interest in the arts, animals, or outdoor exploration. It may also be a great book to grasp the attention of little ones who have difficulty focusing on an entire book, given its interactive features, rhythm, and illustrations.
Thank you to Gibbs Smith for a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.