15th March World Sleep Day

Occasionally when I have a class in the library and I am reading to them, a student will fall asleep. I feel guilty momentarily. Then I begin to wonder about bedtimes of the children I teach. They are often very tired on Mondays. When asked about bedtimes, some children say they don't have a set bedtime... I go when I'm tired. I think about the rigour of bedtime I imposed on my own children. By the time I got home from work and did everything I was hanging out for child-free time, even if it was usually spent on the next day's prep. 

Along with this lack of bedtime structure goes the fact that many of my students do not have a bedtime story ritual as part of bedtime. I looked up what the recommended amount of sleep for a 5 to 8 year old is and learned that it is about ten to twelve hours a night.

Sleep is essential for growth, immunity, learning and memory and is important for helping a child heal and recover. Healthy sleep means a good quantity and quality of sleep, with regular sleep routines.

However when looking for picture books about 'sleep', there are so many that are marketed as aids for sleep. They spruik mindfulness and repetition. See the  Ten Minutes to Bed series by Rhiannon Fielding;  Sleep Stories by Sara Cordingley; and the Carl-Johan Forssén Ehrlin phenomenon that started with The Rabbit Who Wants to Fall Asleep.

If we do decide to do a display of books in the library we have a lot to choose from and I would want it to provide pleasure and fun for readers, not 'teaching'.

There are books about sleep and its importance:

• Sleep is for Everyone  by Paul Showers

• Why Do I Have to Go to Sleep? by Kay Barnham

• Resting and Sleeping  by Katie Woolley

There are books about animals sleeping:

• Sleep  by Kate Prendergast

• Snooze-O-Rama by Maria Birmingham

• How Does an Octopus Sleep?  by Octavio Pintos

• Sleep Like a Tiger by Mary Logue

• Where Do Creatures Sleep at Night? by Steven Simmons

• Time to Sleep  by Steve Jenkins and Robin Page

• We All Sleep by Ezekiel Kwaymullina

There are books that combine sleep and sheep (and I'm not sure why): 

• Let Me Sleep, Sheep! by Meg McKinlay

• Where Will the Sleepy Sheep Sleep?  by David Metzenthen

• When Sheep Cannot Sleep by Satoshi Kitamura

• Sheep Won't Sleep by Judy Cox

• Too Many Sheep by Christina Booth

• Sleepy Sam by Michael Catchpool

• One More Sheep  by Mij Kelly

• The Eleventh Sheep  by Kyle Mewburn

• Sleep, Sheep!  by Kerry Lyn Sparrow

• The Sleep Sheep  by Anna McQuinn

• It's Time to Sleep, You Crazy Sheep! by Alison Ritchie

• Russell the Sheep by Rob Scotton

• I Can't Sleep  by Ximo Abadia 

• Time to Sleep Sheep the Sheep by Mo Willems

We have stories:

• Dozy Bear and the Secret of Sleep  by Katie Blackburn

• A Book of Sleep by Il Sung Na

• Time for Bed by Mem Fox

• Let's Go to Sleep by Margaret Wild

• The Napping House  by Audrey and Don Wood

• Snuggle Up Sleepy Ones  by Claire Freedman

• The Animals Would Not Sleep by Sara Levine

• Can't You Sleep Little Bear? by Martin Waddell

• Mr Underbed  by Chris Riddell

• Sleepy Places  by Judy Hindley

• Go to Sleep, Jessie! by Libby Gleeson

• This Book Will Get You to Sleep by Jory John