View source for Hugless Douglas and the Big Sleep by David Melling

{{infobox2
|title=Hugless Douglas and the Big Sleep
|author=David Melling
|reviewer=Ruth Ng
|genre=For Sharing
|rating=4.5
|buy=Yes
|borrow=Yes
|isbn=978-1444901481
|pages=32
|publisher=Hodder Children's Books
|date=April 2012
|aznuk=1444901494
|aznus=1444901486
|cover=1444901494
|website=http://www.davidmelling.co.uk/
|video=
|summary=Douglas the bear is back, and this time he's on his way for a sleepover with his friend rabbit...Wonderful illustrations and a lovely, fun story! 
}}
Douglas is excited!  He's on his way for a sleepover and his friend Rabbit's house.  First there is the packing, then there's the journey to get there and on his way Douglas runs into rather a lot of little sheep who decide to tag along for the sleepover too.  Rabbit's house ends up being very crowded, but they manage to come up with an acceptable solution for everyone, after only a little bit of trouble!

We rather like Douglas in our house.  He's an endearingly large young bear whose adventures are much like those of a small toddler.  His parents are absent from this particular story, which I thought was a little odd since it's a sleepover tale and it would have been nice to see him being dropped off at rabbit's house.  However, the story is fun, and even if it doesn't take you through the realities of a sleepover it still allows for plenty of discussion about the idea of sleeping at a friend's house for the first time.

Douglas' packing is certainly a good example.  My daughter likes to pack her own little suitcase for sleepovers and when I check I often find random items such as 3 pairs of shorts but no pyjamas or knickers, or 15 toy cars, a teddy and 3 bedtime stories!  Douglas manages to pack himself his pyjamas, toothbrush and a storybook and then he sets off to rabbit's house.  Along the way he gets lost and has a small incident with a tree which leads to him falling on top of little sheep!  Little sheep is fortunately unharmed and he knows the way to rabbit's house, so Douglas invites him to come to the sleepover too, not realising that there are lots of other little sheep tagging along with them.

David Melling's illustrations are, as always, very humourous.  He has a cartoony style to his artwork and there's lots of fun in each picture, especially once the sheep are involved since you can spend some time looking to see what each one is getting up to.  At one point in the story Douglas and the sheep are crammed into rabbit's house and Douglas suddenly sneezes.  There is a great picture of all the sheep boing-ing out of rabbit's holes all looking surprised and worried!  There's always an interesting extra picture at the end of these books too and this time we have lots of different sleepover items so you can look through all the different things the sheep have, and also rabbit and some friendly owls and see which things you would want to take with you on a sleepover.

A funny, sweet story that's ideal to share with toddlers or those just starting school.

If you're new to Douglas then you might also enjoy reading [[Hugless Douglas by David Melling|Hugless Douglas]] and [[Don't Worry Douglas by David Melling|Don't Worry Douglas]]

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