Sweet Dreams, Zaza

Mylo Freeman was born in The Hague, Holland from Dutch/American parents. She attended art school for about five years (painting) and after that she moved to New York. Lived and worked there for a couple of years and was part of a group exhibition at The Drawing Center Gallery in New York. But eventually homesickness brought her back to Amsterdam. Around this time she started her musical career, which resulted in a CD. However, the stage did not prove to be artistically satisfying, so she returned to the visual Arts. This time Mylo started working for magazines and commercial advertising. After the birth of her son David (1994) she started to make drawings for children and he became the big inspiration for all the books to come. First published book was Potty! in 1997. It in turn inspired David to give up his diapers and use the potty! This book also won her the Kiekebookprize in 1998, a prize given out by Dutch national libraries for best toddler book of the year. Now, Mylo has published over 60 books. When she was a kid there was nothing she enjoyed more than turning her room into a big playground for all her dolls and cuddly toys. So you can imagine that creating a character like Zaza came naturally. Now Zaza has become her favorite character and is loved by toddlers around the world! At the moment Mylo lives in Amsterdam with her husband and three children.

"As effectively as Good Night Moon and Grandfather Twilight, this book will help children get ready for sleep.When it's Zaza's bedtime, her six stuffed-animal friends get individual attention as she tucks them in for the night. George Giraffe is so long he requires two beds, over which Zaza stretches his soft blue body out for a rest. The spotted and flowered Bobby gets a tummy tickle; Mo, the snake, hears a song; and Pinkie, the rabbit, gets cuddled. Red bear Rosie, Zaza's favorite, receives the most special attention. All of this love gets showered back on Zaza when Mommy enters. Mother and daughter both have deep brown skin and natural hair. Zaza's afro puffs encircle her head, and Mommy wears a full Afro—offering much-needed mirrors for black and brown children. Despite the quietude of this good-night story, the bold, solid-colored, bright background for each image and the contrasting busy patterns on the stuffed animals and Zaza's bedspread make it feel like a wide-awake story until the final, soothing-pink background lulls readers to sleep. Observant children will also notice that the eyes of the stuffed animals open and close—suggesting that they might be as alive as Zaza. A wonderful depiction of a daily bedtime ritual for a family that happens to be black." - Kirkus Reviews "In an addition to the Zaza series, the brown-skinned, pajama-clad title character playfully bids good night to each of her animal toys. Her companions include a stuffed giraffe named George (“George is so tall that he needs two beds!”), a cuddly rabbit named Bobby (who gets tickled before tuck-in), and a multicolored snake that Zaza wraps around her like a different kind of boa (“Zaza holds Mo and sings a lullaby for him. ‘Rock-a-bye, Moey, in the tree top’ ”). She also tucks Pinkie, a wee pink bunny, into her own tiny bed. At last, Zaza gives her favorite toy, red teddy bear Rosie, “the sweetest kiss of all”—at least until Mommy comes to tuck in her child. Freeman’s vibrant palette brings warmth to this reassuring board book about bedtime routines." - Publishers WeeklyRead-aloud on PBS 13 by Mylo Freeman: https://www.thirteen.org/programs/lets-learn/sweet-dreams-zaza-english-captions-dqdkv5/ "Bedtime routines are vital for young children, and this book shares one young girl’s nightly tasks. A young toddler, Zaza, sweetly gets her five animal friends ready for bed in unique ways. George Giraffe needs head pats, Mo needs a lullaby, and others, like Pinkie, just need a soft snuggle. Her favorite bear gets special treatment though. “Zaza loves all of her animal friends, but Rosie is her favorite. Zaza gives Rosie the sweetest kiss of all.” Once all of her animal friends have fallen asleep, Zaza’s mommy comes to help the child get ready for bed. Readers will notice that Mommy uses the same routine on Zaza that the girl used with her animals. The illustrations depict the bedtime routine beautifully and show Zaza and Mommy as having brown skin and natural hair. VERDICT A first purchase that will reinforce the ritual steps to observe before falling asleep. Sweet dreams are guaranteed." – Brooke Newberry, Winding Rivers Library System, West Salem, WI