Title: Do Butterflies Sleep?
Subtitle: A Book about the sleeping habits of Animals
Author: Lanet Sawyer
Publisher: XlibrisUS
ISBN: 979-8-3694-0806-3
Pages: 33
Genre: Illustrated Children’s Book / Educational
Reviewer: Beth Adams

Read Book Review

All animals sleep, as stated at the beginning of author Lanet Sawyer’s book, Do
Butterflies Sleep? However, many species have distinct and different sleeping cycles
which are very interesting to learn, especially for youngsters. For example, readers are
told how lions can sleep almost all day, 24 hours, after eating a big meal. Raccoons,
squirrels, fish, ducks and many other types of animals have various sleeping habits,
each unique to their group. Interestingly pigs sleep in a pile, to keep each other warm,
just as sheep cuddle up together for warmth as well.

The book contains pages with these fascinating facts, interleaved with very beautiful
illustrations, each showing the various animals in their sleeping postures and places.
The visual details enhance the educational content, helping children understand the
unique ways animals adapt to sleep in their habitats. As one goes through this book, I
felt it has a very calming effect on me as it would on the readers, almost lulling the
readers into a good bedtime place to drift off to dreamland with beautiful animal-inspired
characters. Franky, curling up and tucking into the wool coat of a sheep would be the
best blanket imaginable, warm and with a heartbeat; a great place to snuggle.

During the reading of this book, the author poses many rhetorical questions for the
readers, enabling them to use these talking points as a start for discussion. This can
allow the parent to ask other questions to the child, such as their own pets; dogs and
cats, and whatever they may have. The printed version of Do Butterflies Sleep? is
clearly recommended so the child can absorb the artistic details of each illustration as
the words are gently read.

The choices of animals Lanet Sawyer chose to illustrate are all gentle and beautiful, as
she did not do spiders and snakes, nor anything threatening to humans – more a
collection of zoo animals and gentle wild creatures. But Do Butterflies Sleep? does in
fact answer that question. Not to be a spoiler, I will leave that detail open in this review,
and suggest you buy a copy of this creative and educational book for yourselves. It is,
once again, an ideal book to be read to a youngster at bedtime or classroom use,
sparking curiosity and appreciation for the natural world. Author Lanet Sawyer has
created a charming educational book that parents, teachers, and children will enjoy
revisiting on many occasions.