My Bed: Enchanting Ways to Fall Asleep Around the World

Bedtime around the world is showcased in this unique multicultural book featuring hand-stitched art for the illustrations. Each open page features bedtime in a different area of the world with a rhyming line, a short paragraph outlining more specific details about bedtime in that region, and a corresponding embroidered illustration. In the Netherlands, beds rock on the water as some children sleep on houseboats in the canals. In South and Central America, hammocks are used for comfort and protection from snakes and scorpions. Families in Afghanistan use rolled out mattresses “atop soft, hand-woven rugs and sleep together in a common room.” The rhyming lines on each page feel unnecessary and disjointed, as the rhyme and cadence are interrupted by the corresponding paragraph of information before reaching the rhyming line on the next page. Mavor’s impressively detailed and uncommon illustrations (printed to scale!) with the use of hand stitching and embroidery take center stage as they encapsulate a richer sense of heritage and culture through the details of architecture, clothing, landscapes, furniture, and more. The captivating use of novel illustrations paired with informative and educative notes about bedtime throughout different regions and cultures provides for an engaging, fulfilling, and out-of-the-ordinary bedtime book.