Sheep Count Flowers

by Micaela Chirif, Amanda Mijangos (Illustrator)

Overview

If people count sheep to fall asleep, then…
what do sheep count?

Flowers, says this beautifully fanciful dream of a book. Sunflowers, roses, geraniums, jasmine. And there's lots of OTHER things you probably don't know about sheep…Sheep have neither pajamas nor pillows nor slippers. They tell bedtime stories about rhinoceroses and airplanes. They ONLY fly when they're sleeping, like butterflies circling the sun. In fact, there are sheep that sparkle in the dark like stars and fireflies.

Or are there?

Look closer at the light-as-a-laugh paintings by Amanda Mijangos, and you just might start wondering if all those adventurers are children in sheep's clothing!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781646141432
Publisher:	Levine Querido
Publication date:	10/12/2021
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	40
File size:	72 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	4 - 7 Years

About the Author

Micaela Chirif is an award-winning Peruvian author of children's books and poetry. She has a degree in philosophy from the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, as well as a Master's Degree in Books and Children's Literature from The Autonomous University of Barcelona. Among other awards, her picture books have won the A la Orilla del Viento picture book competition from the Spanish-language publishing house Fondo de Cultura Económica and three of her picture books were White Ravens selections. Micaela's books have been translated into Korean, Japanese, English, Portuguese, and French.
Amanda Mijangos was born in Mexico City, graduated from the Faculty of Architecture, and studied illustration in Mexico and Buenos Aires. She has illustrated literature and poetry in books and magazines for people of all ages and gives drawing and illustration workshops for all audiences. Her work has been recognized with awards from countries near and far.

Editorial Reviews

08/23/2021

Argentinian writer Chirif brings a poet’s perception to this consideration of sheep—specifically, their bedtimes. They can’t count themselves, it seems, so “sheep count flowers to fall asleep:/ one sunflower,/ two roses,/ three geraniums,/ four jasmines.” Mijangos (The Sea-Ringed World) works in ghostly, stencil-like images, by turns sprightly and haunting, overlaid with stroked swaths of paint and dotted with small, closely worked ink motifs—ants, stars, fish. Sheep and children share the spreads. “When sheep have nightmares, they get away from the wolf at the very last moment,” Chirif writes. Mijangos draws two dark-haired, light-skinned children menaced by a wolf with a long snout. In the next spreads, they escape by running across the wolf’s great body, and one rides it into the sky like a horse. The fragmentary thoughts are like dreams themselves, and their sparkling boldness will draw those who long to wander the wilds of consciousness. Ages 4–7. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

[STAR] Illustrations are trippy, dreamlike, and utterly beguiling. Shared at bedtime, this richly imaginative story may launch children into vivid dreamscapes of their own.”-Kirkus Reviews (starred),


“Whimsical...Dreamlike.... A lovely bedtime accompaniment.”-Booklist ,

From the Publisher

★ 2021-07-14
This Argentine import invites readers to wonder: If humans count sheep at night, what do sheep count?

Sheep, who sleep on the grass in the absence of things like pajamas or pillows, have numerous ways to get themselves to sleep: They count flowers, and they tell stories about other animals (and “airplanes and rainbows”). Readers also learn they fly when they sleep, circling the sun; that some “sparkle in the dark”; and that they can always flee, just in time, from the wolves in their nightmares. Illustrations are trippy, dreamlike, and utterly beguiling, with intentionally off-centered compositions; occasional moments of exaggerated scale; unexpected perspectives; repeated moon motifs; and velvety, hazy washes of rich colors with intriguing textures and floating, fine-lined drawings of flowers, fish, birds, children (all pale-faced with dark hair) dressed as sheep; and more. Deep sapphire blues dominate, but they are balanced by pops of golden yellows, greens, and oranges. At one point, the text speaks directly to readers, urging them not to fret about flying sheep crashing into things: “Don’t worry!” Look closely at the spreads about nightmares to see that one child has befriended the very wolf once snarling. The final spread depicts one child falling asleep with an adult caregiver nearby. Final endpapers show children sleeping on various cloudlike shapes, with starbursts around them. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Shared at bedtime, this richly imaginative story may launch children into vivid dreamscapes of their own. (Picture book. 4-8)

Kirkus Reviews