Hen in the Bed - by Katrina Charman (Hardcover)

About the Book

Count the funny animal friends as they noisily roll, flop, and tumble out of bed, one by one, in this clever split-page picture book.

Book Synopsis

From award-winning author and illustrator duo Katrina Charman and Guilherme Karsten, a playful, split-page bedtime story that celebrates the friends you can always count on.

There were 10 in the bed and the speckled hen said, "Roll over! Roll over!"

Count the funny animal friends as they noisily roll, flop, and tumble out of bed, one by one, in this clever split-page picture book.

As the bed gets emptier, bedtime gets more and more chaotic.

Will anyone EVER get any sleep?

Review Quotes

In this animal-themed version of the "Ten in the Bed" nursery rhyme, it's a speckled hen who cries out the "Roll over! Roll over!" refrain. An unusual mix of bedfellows includes other farm animals as well as a lion, a sloth, a bear, and a snake. The ten animals brush their teeth on the title-page spread, then climb into bed and snuggle in to read. At this point, the spreads transition to split pages (à la The Very Hungry Caterpillar), where successive right-hand pages get progressively larger as each animal falls out of bed until only the hen remains. "Come back, please. I miss you!" Beyond this interactive feature, young listeners will enjoy the story's repetition and gentle humor, plus counting along and making the animal sounds included as each character rolls to the floor. The horizontal book format cleverly helps showcase the wide bed, which fits all ten animals. The preschooler-friendly illustrations' bold hues and simple textures are eye-catching (and are the colors and that bedroom layout nodding to Goodnight Moon?). A free Stories Aloud audiobook is available via a QR code on the back cover.--Cynthia K. Ritter, The Horn Book Magazine

"Beyond this interactive feature, young listeners will enjoy the story's repetition and gentle humor, plus counting along and making the animal sounds included as each character rolls to the floor...The preschooler-friendly illustrations' bold hues and simple textures are eye-catching (and are the colors and that bedroom layout nodding to Goodnight Moon?)."--Cynthia K. Ritter, The Horn Book Magazine

About the Author

Katrina Charman has spent her life surrounded by books ever since her first visit to the library when she was tiny. She now lives in a house full of bookshelves and continues to fill them with books that she has written. When she's not writing for children, you can find Katrina cuddled up with one of her fluffy cats and a good book or plucking cat hairs off her clothes. She lives in Wokingham, England.

Guilherme Karsten won a national contest for new children's book illustrators in 2010 and has been working with illustrations ever since. After illustrating many books for other authors, he started writing his own books in 2017. Guilherme's work has been published worldwide and has received various accolades, including the Jabuti Award and the Golden Pinwheel Grand Award. Guilherme lives in Blumenau, in southern Brazil.