The Sleeper Train
by Mick Jackson; illus. by Baljinder Kaur
Primary    Candlewick    32 pp.
7/25    9781536238983    $18.99
e-book ed.  9781536249378    $18.99

A child and parents board a train. At night, they pull down bunks to sleep, but the child, wide awake, reflects on “all the different places I have slept”: a hotel, the beach, a tent, Grandma and Granddad’s, and a hospital. Each reminiscence is accompanied by an illustration showing the child and family sleeping peacefully or enjoying time together in that location. These family scenes are paired with a contrasting image of the restless, awake child in the train bed, surrounded by a detailed and highly ornamental border. Rich digitally colored pencil drawings bring a Punjabi-appearing setting and loving Sikh-presenting family to life, along with culturally distinctive foods and household items. Illustrations in unusual, contrasting color combinations and with fantastical elements demand long perusals in order to spot all the details. For example, the child peers out the train window at dark red and hot pink foliage with little yellow eyes peeking out, while the turquoise train puffs out pink smoke as it chugs along the tracks. Ironically, when the family arrives at their destination and the child is sleepless, what helps is pretending to be back on the train. “I remember how it felt to be rocked by the train, just like a baby.” This visually vibrant yet gentle bedtime book promises, like the sleeper train, to calm and soothe readers.

From the September/October 2025 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.