Lemur Dreamer

Lemurs are undeniably cute and utterly adorable, but what they get up to at sleepy-bye time is relatively unknown - until now! Meet "Lemur Dreamer", a fabulous new book from Courtney Dicmas, the extremely talented young lady who dazzled us with vibrant colours and hilarious parrot antics in "Harold Finds a Voice".

Courtney's latest animal hero is Louis, the aforementioned dreamy furry fellah who nips off to bed like normal folk but wakes up all his friends and neighbours with his nocturnal wanderings. Louis snoozes and snores his way through other people's apartments, blissfully unaware that he's causing all sorts of problems. But his friends love him and put up with him until one fateful night when Louis snores his way through one near miss after another!

His friends rally round and prevent a disaster, thankfully. Will Louis ever be able to mend his ways? His friends think they've come up with the perfect plan to save Louis from hurting himself (and walking through their apartments too!)

It's a hoot! Charlotte loved Louis' meanderings and blissed out expressions right up until he wakes up at the very end of the book. We won't reveal what his friends come up with to help Louis, but you're going to love this one, believe us!

* Read it Daddy blog *

Today I would like to introduce you to Louis, the sleepwalking Lemur. I know, I know, how can this picture book be anything but ace?
Sleepwalking is a dangerous occupation at the best of times, and when you live on the top floor of an apartment, near some very busy roads, you're asking for trouble.
Luckily Louis has excellent friends and one night as he exits the building, they tip-toe close behind. Everywhere he goes they follow until the very road beneath his feet runs out. With some nifty teamwork, his friends rescue Louis before things get messy. Their subsequent solution to Louis' problem is pure genius. I love Courtney Dicmas' illustrations. With a few deft lines she creates an incredible array of wild, and less wild (that sheepdog is hilarious) animals. I want to live at 32 Pebbly Lane.

* My Friend Lucy *

Louis the lemur is a sleepwalker. And although sleepwalking may seem to be uneventful, Louis leads his friends on quite an adventure!

Louis is a resident of 32 Pebbly Lane, he lives there with an array of other animal residents. Louis lives on the top floor, and every night he has the habit of sleepwalking through all the other apartments - much to the annoyance of the other residents. But being the good friends that they are, they put up with his sleepwalking antics.


One night Louis ends up taking a wrong turn and ends up walking out on a washing line, right out on to Pebbly Lane causing quite a stir. The residents of Pebbly Lane decide that his sleepwalking is getting out of hand and decide that they should follow him to see where his sleepwalking legs take him. They bravely follow Louis outside of Pebbly Lane, across power cables and nearly off a cliff! Luckily they grab him in time and he finally wakes up exclaiming of the amazing dreams he'd had and totally unaware of his sleepwalking. Of course he feels terrible when he realises the trouble he's caused his good friends, but they explain they love him anyway! And to stop Louis causing himself any further harm they buy him a little present that lets him sleepwalk at ease.

The first thing that caught my eye was the bold cover on Lemur Dreamer, the paperback has a stunning shiny foil moon, with foil stars, perfect for magical night-time reading. Courtney Dicmas' illustrations are bold and colourful (a style that runs throughout all her books), mostly created with watercolour washes and coloured pencil. I found Lemur Dreamer very entertaining, with lots of laughs and quirky illustrations. The book also has a strong message too; good friends look out for you, no matter what.

* Bookworm Ba