Sleep Tight, Mrs. Ming

Steve Pitt is a Toronto-based freelance writer and an award-winning journalist. He has written many young adult and children's books, including Day of the Flying Fox: The True Story of World War II Pilot Charley Fox.

Mrs. Ming is getting ready for bed. Unfortunately, little Jeremiah in
the next room can’t seem to settle down. He repeatedly interrupts Mrs.
Ming’s night exercises with excuses of a lost teddy, a sad dream, a
wet bed, and so forth. For each interruption, Mrs. Ming’s reaction is
“Oh, dear,” and she very patiently puts the situation right and
makes Jeremiah comfortable again.

Just when it seems Jeremiah is finally asleep, a thunderstorm erupts
and now it is Mrs. Ming who needs a caregiver. She wakes Jeremiah up and
confesses she is terrified of thunderstorms. “My goodness,” he says,
then tucks her into his bed and holds her hand until she can sleep.

This is the third terrific book about the enigmatic relationship
between Mrs. Ming and Jeremiah. Is she an aunt? A foster mother? Does it
really matter, as long as Jennings’s text and Levert’s 1993 Governor
General’s Award-winning artwork can make it work? Jeremiah and Mrs.
Ming seem destined for a long relationship, whatever it is. Highly
recommended.