5-Minute Bedtime Stories - Various

Published by Imagine That Publishing Ltd: Woodbridge, Suffolk, 2020.
Omnibus edition featuring: 'I Love You SO Much, Grandma' by Susie Linn and (illustrator) Gail Yerrill; 'Can You Count the Stars?' by Susie Linn and (illustrator) Gabi Murphy; 'I Love You Because...' by Susie Linn and (illustrator) Gavin Scott; 'Daddy Loves Me' by Georgina Wren and (illustrator) Gabi Murphy; 'Mummy Loves Me' by Georgina Wren and (illustrator) Gabi Murphy; 'Goodnight, I Love You' by Oakley Graham and (illustrator) Gareth Llewhellin.

This is a selection of six short picture books that work well together (although I believe each is available individually), and fit the theme of being short bedtime stories for young listeners. 

All of them are very wholesome and loving, and three focus in on specific family members: Daddy, Mummy and Grandma (Poor Grandpa, Uncle, Aunt, Sister, Brother, Cousin etc get neglected). They are sweet, and show good bonds between the family members, although at points get so specific that certain readers might not relate. For example, in Daddy Loves Me (a personal favourite), we get the verse: 'If I'm playing in the sandpit, / Daddy likes to join in too. / We put flags on our sandcastles - / I like red, Daddy likes blue.'  I get it. You've got to say something specific. But, what if I don't like red? What if Daddy prefers vermillion? 

These are of course nitpicks. I like the stories anyway.

Can You Count the Stars? is probably Ezekiel's favourite at present, as he is learning about numbers. Often, when I share a line that starts with 'Can you count the...' Ezekiel will jump in and have a go at counting. He's pretty good, although for some reason 'seven' often gets skipped.

My least favourite, on the other hand, is the last story in the collection: Goodnight, I Love You. It does have a good message, but somehow feels a bit nebulous, almost new-age in some spaces. Each page begins with the statements: 'I love you. You are safe. / It's time to find a happy place.' Then, we move on to imagining various scenarios, including '...a train, / To take away bad thoughts and pain' and (with a painfully bad rhyme) 'Let's rise up towards the stars, / To float and play for hours and hours.' I dunno. I could do without that story.

Overall, though, 5-Minute Bedtime Stories is a sweet collection, which fulfills the promised brief of being short, happy stories appropriate for winding down a child for the night.

Completed, with Ezekiel, 31 March 2025.



(Ezekiel Books)

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