Emma is having a very hard time going to sleep. She’s tried everything. She’s had a nice glass of warm milk. She’s even read a whole stack of books (a girl after my own heart) but the exciting stories only made her feel more awake. Finally, she has an idea – she’ll count sheep. That should do the trick.
But Emma’s counting doesn’t seem to work, either. When she reaches one hundred, she is still awake. So she keeps counting – but when she reaches one hundred and eight, the 108th sheep doesn’t appear. Instead, she feels a bump, and she gets out of bed to see what is the matter.
On the floor behind her bed is the 108th sheep, and he has a big bump on his forehead. He tells her that he just can’t do it. He’s been to sheep school, just like all the other sheep, but he just wasn’t very good at it, and he certainly can’t jump high enough to make it all the way over her bed. And then he starts to cry.
The other sheep were a bit put out by this. If the 108th sheep didn’t jump, no one would get to go to sleep that night, and the rest of the wooly creatures were really getting tired.
Emma decides they must do something to help the sheep. She tries everything she can think of, even putting him on stilts (which did not work, may I just say) until finally, she has a very good idea. She cuts a hole in her headboard.
The 108th sheep takes a deep breath. He takes a running leap and sails clean through the hole in the headboard, over Emma’s bed, to land safely on the other side. All the sheep cheer and clap.
And Emma goes to sleep.
I loved the simple illustrations of this story, and the textured paper used. Everything from the pattern on the page to the cute story makes this one a read-aloud winner.
(This book was published in 2006 by Tiger Tales and was illustrated by the author.)
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