The Little Book of Sleep

A story for 6 to 60 year olds

Written by Estelle Morrison / Illustrated by Michelle Buktaw

The Little Book of Sleep
A story for 6 to 60 year olds
Written by Estelle Morrison
Illustrations Michelle Buktaw
Cover design: BlueAppleWorks
Interior design: BlueAppleWorks

2008 Ceridian Corporation. All rights reserved

The Little Book of Sleep
A story for 6 to 60 year olds

Written by Estelle Morrison

Illustrated by Michelle Buktaw
 This is a story about a boy named Lee.
Lee was a lot like you and me.
He was very, very busy.
There were many things for him to do on any given day.
He had food to eat, homework to finish, balls to bounce,
friends to play with, books to read and a mess to make.
In fact, there were so many things to do, there were not
enough hours in a day to get them all done..
Bedtime was the worst time of day.

It meant that he had to stop eating,

working, bouncing, playing,
reading and messing.
 Sometimes, just before bedtime,
Lee would eat the dessert he had
saved from dinner.
He liked the way chocolate tasted
when it became warm and soft from
sitting in his pocket.
His parents thought eating
would make him sleepy.
 Sometimes, just before bedtime,
Lee would run as fast as he could,
round and round in circles, chasing his cat.
His parents thought that exercise
would make him tired.
 Sometimes, just before bedtime,
Lee would watch tv.
His parents thought
that the all-night cartoon channel
would bore him to sleep.
 And sometimes, his parents would
put him to bed right after dinner,
hoping he would just nod off.
 When they ran out of things to try,
Lee’s parents put him in his bed with his video
games, stuffed frog, toy robot and action figures.
They turned on his three lava lamps,
his spinning glow-in the dark plastic
thing-a-ma-jig and his musical snail that
sang ‘Who let the dogs out’ hoping
they would help
Lee fall asleep.
But none of these
things…not one of these
things helped Lee
go to sleep.
So night after night, his parents would put him in his bed, and wait.
Wait for him to stop talking.
Wait for him to stop playing.
... Wait for him to stop bouncing.
 Wait for him to stop eating.
Wait for him to stop reading.
… Wait for him to stop staring at the ceiling, eyes wide open.
 They waited….and waited…
and waited….

Then they gave up

and went to bed.
 But not Lee.
Lee’s mind was very, very, busy.

He worried about his spelling test .

He wondered why Mrs. Dottle has giant spaces between her teeth.
… why weekends are only two days long
and …..if frogs could survive global warming.
When Lee finally fell asleep,
it was long past his bedtime.
 In the morning when it was time to wake up,
Lee was in a deep, deep sleep.
He was so deeply asleep, that his eyelids were stuck together.
He was so deeply asleep that his mouth was open and drool
spilled onto his pillow.
He was so deeply asleep that wild birds screeching near his
window sounded like a quiet lullaby.
He was so deeply asleep that when his parents yelled
“LEE LEE LEE” and shook his shoulders,
they just rocked him into a deeper sleep.
 At breakfast, Lee was a dragon.
A fire-breathing dragon.
Fire spit out of his mouth when asked what he wanted for breakfast.
Fire spit out of his mouth when told to eat his toast.
Fire spit out of his mouth when he heard the words“hurry up”.
He stared straight ahead, at nothing,
with a low growl coming out of his fire-breathing mouth.
 His parents also — “sleep-cheated”, tried to get ready for the day.
They got up from their chairs and bumped into each other.
They spilled their fourth cup of coffee on the floor.
They forgot to put their shoes on.
They stepped on the cat.
And they couldn’t find their keys.
 At school, Lee was cranky.
His teacher sent him to the ‘cranky’ chair.
He had to sit there until he was no longer cranky.
Someone scratched his name permanently
on the back of the chair.

LEE
 Then one day Lee’s parents had an idea.

Since everything they had tried to get Lee to sleep had

not worked, they decided to do the opposite.
All sugar was to be eaten before 6:00 p.m—especially
chocolate.
All cat chasing, bed-jumping, ball-bouncing exercise
would take place before dinner. .
All lava lamps, video games, action figures, spinning
glow-in-the-dark thing-a-ma-jigs, electronic snails and other
exciting, noisy items were to be stored in the closet, only
allowed out during day time hours.
There would be no TV before bed, unless it was terribly,
terribly boring like the shopping channel or the weather
network.
 Instead….

There was a warm, soothing bath.

A bedtime story. A kiss.
And lights out.
All by the same time every single night.

Even weekends.
Bed was only for sleep — although cuddling
was allowed.
 And Lee’s parents gave him a very special book.
It was called ‘Lee’s Book of Worries’. Every day after
school he would think about all of the things he was worried
about. He would write them all down in his book.
And he could talk about each one with his parents and
when he was no longer wondering and worrying about
something – he would cross it out.

orries
of w
list
 And guess what?
Lee slept.
Not the first night….
not even the second night…
but definitely by the third.
And every night after.
And although he
was still very, very,
busy, he was no
longer busy at
night.
 And very soon after that, everything changed.….
He was kind to his cat.
He used a fork and spoon.
He said thank you.
He learned how to spell “celebration”.
And he loved his parents … and bedtime.
The End
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