For the narrator of this soothing and unusual bedtime story, the excitement of a ride on a sleeper train chases sleep away. She and her parents, who appear to be Punjabi and Sikh, board as the sun is setting and soon commence their bedtime routine. Unable to settle, the girl takes up a post at the window. “I thought it might help if I tried to think of all the different places I have slept.” At home, if she has a bad dream, she crawls stealthily into her parents’ bed. She remembers the view of the sea from her hotel room on vacation last summer, and the warm comfort of dozing on the beach. She recalls various other nights, too—in a tent on a camping trip, in the hospital after an operation, in her mom’s old room at her grandparents’ house—and as the train snakes through towns and villages, she grows sleepy imagining all the people snug in their beds nearby. Before she knows it, it’s morning, and breakfast time, and they’re in a new South Asian city. In a full-circle moment, the sleeper train itself becomes a new sleep aid: “Now if I ever can’t get to sleep… I remember how it felt to be rocked by the train, just like a baby…” Featuring an appealing palette heavy in oranges and teals, the digitally colored pencil illustrations are packed with patterns and details but never feel too busy.

When a child is too excited to fall asleep on the night train, she tries thinking about all the places she's ever slept in this comforting moonlit adventure.

Just as it's starting to get dark, a child and her family board the sleeper train, where they'll travel through the night and reach their destination in the morning. But as the train rocks from side to side, rolling through the vast Indian countryside, the child can't sleep. It's all too thrilling! So instead, she thinks of all the different places she has peacefully slept, from that cozy spot on Mom and Dad's bed, to a seaside hotel, to a tent in a field, to Mom's childhood room at her grandparents' house. But will that help her to drift off? In this unique bedtime book, Mick Jackson's charming narrative voice meets Baljinder Kaur's richly detailed illustrations, set in her parents' homeland, for a story sure to usher young listeners off to dreamland.