How is Max supposed to get to sleep when he can't find his favorite red rubber elephant? With little empathy from his sister, Ruby, Max will have to figure it out in Max's Bedtime. This board book is a great bedtime story that will easily fit into your little one's lap. Max and Ruby are cute cartoon bunnies in polka dotted and striped pajamas. The backgrounds are solid, each two page spread a new pastel color. The story is told through simple sentences, just one or two per page, and dialogue that is not marked with quotation marks but clear nonetheless.
Using different voices for Ruby and Max will make the reading even more enjoyable for your little one. You can encourage your child to share what their favorite bedtime object is and what they would do if it were lost. Ruby's feeble attempts to pacify Max with some of her own extra toys - a teddy bear, a snake, a pig, and a duck, does show some sisterly care, which you can stress and exaggerate slightly to teach a good lesson about sharing. Or, you can just enjoy the humor of Max getting tied up in the stuffed snake, or eventually losing his bed to the mound of stuffed animals Ruby has thrown over to him - and ultimately to Ruby herself!
I read this book to friend Nick one evening before bedtime, and we practiced sounding out some of the easier words together. When Nick was tiring of that, he started telling me about a time he put ALL of his stuffed animals to bed with him and, according to Nick, he was buried so deep that his mom couldn't even find him to kiss him goodnight.
--Audra
