(book provided by the author’s publisher, review originally published in 2015)

Rupert’s Tales: A Book of Bedtime Stories, written by Kyrja, Illustrated by Tonia Bennington Osborn

I’ve probably mentioned before that my kids really like Rupert. We’ve been reading about his wheel of the year adventures off and on for a couple of years now, and the rhyming couplets that each story is told in, plus the beautiful illustrations, seem to keep the kids’ attention.

This book has been no different. Four tales – one about being afraid to go to sleep, and why sleep is important, and three about different aspects of dreams and ways to keep dreams from being scary, have kept them rapt through each reading (and that’s no small feat – with an almost 4 year old who’s beginning to read, and an almost 7 year old who reads some but struggles with processing spoken words, listening to stories is not always an easy task).

I’m particularly fond of the 2nd and 3rd stories – one talks about being in charge of what happens in dreams, and the other applies that lesson, along with giving the idea of a touchstone type object that can be used to help focus when the dreamer is not so sure of what to do. These are really great concrete things for kids to know, that they can apply to their own dreams right away.

Definitely a keeper, and one to read over and over again.