Esther Hall - Can't Sleep Without Sheep CBeebies Bedtime Stories

CBeebies Bedtime Story.

Hello, I'm Esther and I hope you're ready for tonight's story.

You are?

That's great! Do you sometimes have trouble falling asleep? I know I do.

This is a story about a little girl who often finds it hard to

fall asleep.

It's called Can't Sleep Without Sheep and has been written

by Susanna Leonard Hill and illustrated by Mike Wohnoutka.

If you're sitting comfortably, I'll begin.

Ava had a hard time falling asleep. Her mind was always SO busy.

"Try counting sheep," suggested her mother, so she did.

"One sheep jumping over the fence,

"two sheep jumping over the fence,

"three sheep jumping over the fence," but her mind was full

of ideas, and questions, thoughts of today and plans for tomorrow.

Night after night, the sheep had to jump the fence many times.

"Can we please stop?", asked the sheep. "We're exhausted!" "No!

"I need you to keep jumping," said Ava.

"In that case, we quit."

"You can't quit!" said Ava. "How will I get to sleep?"

"Don't worry, we'll find a replacement," they promised.

Horses seemed like the best choice, but they were so beautiful,

that Ava made the fence higher

and wider to see how well they could jump.

"Horses are too much fun," said the sheep. "We need somebody

"less pretty. Send in the chickens."

BUCK BUCK BUCK

The chickens TRIED to get over the fence,

they WANTED to get over the fence.

Ava laughed and laughed.

But she did not go to sleep.

"We need somebody less ridiculous," said the sheep.

"Pigs?" The pigs were not in any hurry.

OINK OINK OINK

"One pig over the fence,"

said Ava, then she had to wait while the others stopped to snack!

"Pigs are too slow," decided the sheep.

The cows were a complete disaster!

CRASH MOOO!

This was harder than the sheep thought!

But just as they were getting started,

the penguins looked at the fence, then looked at themselves.

"We need a plan," they said.

RUMBLING

MEEEHHH SQUAWK

"Next!" said the sheep.

The hippos waddled forward.

"This could take a while," said one sheep. The animals grew impatient.

"Is it our turn?", asked the herd of buffalo. "No, we're next!",

shouted the flamingos, the armadillos, and the beavers.

"We'll see about that!", roared the buffalo.

The stampede began as the buffalo charged the fence.

Dust rose in clouds, splinters flew everywhere! It was chaos!

"STOP!", cried Eva.

I'll never get to sleep like this.

"Wow," said the sheep.

"Who knew we'd be so hard to replace?"

"I knew," Eva replied.

"You always show up for work, you line up nicely,

"and jump calmly, you're fluffy and peaceful and perfect!"

"Well," said one sheep. "It's nice to be appreciated."

"Please, will you stay?", begged Ava.

"I need you to help me fall asleep."

"Don't worry," said the sheep.

"You can count on us."

So she did.

I hope you enjoyed that story. Thanks to Ava counting all

those different animals, I'm going to stick with sheep, just like her.

Now why don't you snuggle down and think about counting sheep

as it's almost your bedtime?

I'll see you soon for another story, but for now, sleep tight.

One sheep jumping over the fence,

two sheep jumping over...