[bright music] - Hi friends.

It's Isabel, and welcome to my Reading Nook.

Today, we are going to be reading a book by someone who has my favorite name in the world, Isabel Greenberg.

The book is called "Midnight Babies" and Isabel also illustrated it.

She drew all of the pictures.

This story is about babies who go on an adventure to avoid falling asleep.

I have so many questions.

Where do they go?

Does it work?

Let's read to find out.

[gentle chiming music] "The Midnight Babies" by Isabel Greenberg.

"The clock strikes midnight, but somebody is not asleep.

The babies have come from far and wide, crawling and walking and toddling and tumbling.

These are the can't sleep babies, the won't sleep babies, the itchy feet babies, the just one more story please babies.

These are the midnight babies.

[gentle chiming music] The babies dance and greet each other with joy and Wide Awake Baby takes her place at the front, for tonight, she will lead the parade.

'Hello, babies.

Are you ready?

Tonight, we will stay up all night.

We will travel to the shores of Nodoff.

We will battle the forces of sleep, and we will not go to bed.'

Yes, yes, yes!

They have brought their tambourines and xylophones, their drums and wooden spoons and sauce pans, and oh, what joyful noise they make when they bang them all together.

[gentle chiming music] 'Sleep, sleep, anywhere but sleep,' sing the babies as they clatter and bash.

[Isabel imitates whizzing] And the quest of the midnight babies begins."

A quest is a type of adventure.

"Through the forest of night lights they go, where mushrooms glow and the trees are hung with lanterns of every color.

One of the babies stops to look.

But Wide Awake Baby bangs her drum, bang, bang, bang, bang.

'You are not sleepy!'

She shouts.

The other babies hear her cry, and they clatter their noisemakers harder than ever, but still, the little baby cannot resist the golden light.

He curls up in a soft pile of leaves, closes his eyes and smiles.

Uh-oh, baby down.

But the babies march on.

Next, they arrive at the Sea of Stories.

'Stay and listen,' whisper the sea books and the story fish.

'You know you want to.'

The water's warm and bubbly, and the windows of the coral house are bright and welcoming.

'Where are we going again?

Maybe, [yawns] I'll just stop here for a while, just for one story.'

But there are still plenty of babies to carry on the quest.

Into the Garden of Lullabies they go.

There, each of the flowers sings a different song and the wind carries to every baby the tune they love the most.

'Cover your ears!'

They bang their spoons again.

Clank, clank, clank, clank, clank, clank, clank, clank, clank, and dance and hooray as loudly as they can.

But one curious baby takes his hands away just for a moment and the lullaby reaches his ears."

Uh-oh.

What do you think is going to happen to that baby?

I think he went to sleep.

I agree with you.

[pages rustling] [gentle music] "Climb aboard, babies.

We must cross the Rockabye River.

Beware this river.

Many babies will not reach the other side for the lure of its steady roll can make even the most alert drift off downstream to sleep.

The babies have arrived at the shores of Nodoff, and some of them are very tired now, but Wide Awake is the very best in the business of staying awake.

She has been here many times before.

'We shall not go to sleep tonight or any other night.

Sleeping is cheating.

Bedtime can nod off.

Good night?

Dream on.'

As the army of teddies approaches, the babies hold aloft their blankies, wave their rattles, beat their fists upon their chest, open their mouths."

[gentle music] What do you think they're going to do?

Yawn?

"And scream.

[Isabel screaming] And the forces of sleep fall back.

But then the lights go out.

The shores of Nodoff are plunged into a lovely, heavy, dark, a soft, deep blanket of night to wrap each baby up.

But Wide Awake has faced this before, and she knows what to do.

'Do not give up, my babies.

We must not sleep.

You know what to do.'

[gentle music] But the babies are losing.

The forces of sleep send in the stuffies and snugglies and bunnies.

[Isabel shushes] They say, opening their velvety arms, and the last of the babies snuggle in, close their eyes, and finally sleep.

[gentle music] Wide Awake is all alone.

She stands on the shores of Nodoff, looking at sleep before her.

Welcome to sleep.

Everything looks so soft and so comfortable, and she is really very tired.

Her eyes begin to close.

'No, never.

Must stay awake all night.'

But wouldn't it be nice, oh so nice, to go to sleep?

[gentle music] 'Sleepy time, little baby.

Aren't you tired?'

Even this last wide awake baby cannot resist the cuddle.

Oh, it is so good.

Oh, it is so warm.

Give in.

Go to to sleep.

[soft music] 'Welcome.

We've been waiting for you.

And here are all the midnight babies.'

[soft music] The midnight babies play all night in the lands of sleep.

There are bananas and warm milk, cuddlies and caterpillars' drums and birds, vanilla clouds and raspberry skies, ice cream and scooters, Ferris wheels and merry-go-rounds and lots and lots of cake.

Not one of them can remember why they tried so very hard not to come here.

And as the skies turns pink with dawn, the babies curl up again in their boats and the Rockabye River takes them back to good morning baby!"

Hang on.

Has this baby been tricked?

Did this baby sleep?

[Isabel gasps] Friends, was all of that a dream?

Is this baby well rested?

[soft music] "Well, this baby, this wide awake baby would rather go anywhere than sleep.

And tonight, [soft music] the midnight babies will march again."