Patricia Hermes

In bed that night, Emma couldn’t sleep. She shut her eyes. She opened her eyes. She shut her eyes. She opened them again. She stared up at the ceiling. A car passed by outside and the lights ran up the wall, across the ceiling then down again. If only she could talk Annie out of going away. She’d miss Annie so much, and she couldn’t bear having another nanny.

She remembered some of the bad nannies they had had, the one who made the kids take at least one bite of everything on their plates, things like Brussels sprouts and kale, and every single lunchtime, at least one of the kids threw up. There was the really bad nanny who wouldn’t let them watch TV because she said it wasn’t good for them. She also wouldn’t let them have anything with sugar in it. And then there was the nanny who used duct tape to keep the twins from climbing out of their high chairs. Actually, that had been Emma’s idea, but when Mom found out, she was so mad that smoke practically came out of her ears and there went that nanny. And, of course, there were all the nannies who didn’t like their dog, Woof, and hated her ferret, Marmaduke.

Emma sighed. She turned over and snuggled into her pillow. She thought about getting Marmaduke out of his cage and bringing him to bed, but decided no. Sometimes Marmaduke was just too wiggly.

Annie had told her once that counting sheep was a good way to get to sleep. Emma decided to give it a try. She turned over. She lay flat on her back, her arms straight at her sides. She scrunched her eyes closed. She started with a row of fat, white sheep. She had them walk toward a fence so they could jump over it, one after another, after another. They got to the fence. They bumped into one another. They got all tangled up. They fell down. Not one of them went over the fence.

That was weird. Shouldn’t imaginary things do what you wanted them to? Emma stood them up. She untangled them. She made them walk toward the fence again. This time, they tried to jump over the fence backward. They tumbled in a heap again. One of them scooted under the fence. They were running wild all over Emma’s imagination. It was not restful.

Emma sat up. The silly sheep had actually given her an idea. She knew just what to do...

“Hermes’s second volume in this head-shaking, funny series sheds light on a child’s naïveté despite her bold and impulsive actions. An engaging sequel with a captivating protagonist.”