Dr. Seuss's Sleep Book is a 1962 picture book written and illustrated by Dr. Seuss. It shows what a large number of people or animals do to prepare for bed or what happens after they fall asleep.
This book includes examples of the following tropes:
- Accessory-Wearing Cartoon Animal: The mounts of the zizzer-zoof seed salesman wear masks.
- Agony of the Feet: The zizzer-zoof seed salesman's feet are said to be sore, though presumably this is from running around all day trying to sell their wares rather than from any injury.
- Alliterative Name: The yawning bug's name is Van Vleck.
- Amusing Injuries: The Crandalls sleepwalk with candles on their heads and sometimes burn themselves.
- Big Eater: One sleepwalking group needs to eat several times per night so that they can keep up their strength.
- Cartoon Creature: True to Dr. Seuss, many characters don't have a named species and look like vaguely-defined, furry humanoids.
- Eleventy Zillion: At the end of the book, "99 zillion 9 trillion and 2" animals are asleep.
- Failure Is the Only Option: Zizzer-Zoof seed salesmen are not very successful, because no one wants their wares.
- Flight: The Offt are minus one pound, so light that they can fly.
- For Want Of A Nail: Had Van Vleck, a tiny bug, not yawned, all those creatures would still be awake.
- "Getting Ready for Bed" Plot: Everyone is getting ready to go to bed for the whole of this story.
- Go-to-Sleep Ending: A meta example; the book ends with the narrator talking the reader into going to sleep.
- Heavy Sleeper: The Crandalls, who sleepwalk with candles on their heads, manage to stay asleep even when they burn themselves with the grease that falls from their headgear.
- Ignorant About Fire: The Crandalls put candles on their heads before bed, knowing that they sleepwalk, so they know where they are when they wake up. They occasionally burn themselves but sleep through it all.
- Irritation Nightmare: Apparently, whenever the moose or the goose dreams of drinking the other one's juice, they'll fall out of bed screaming.
- Meaningful Name: One guy famous for his snoring is named Snorter McPhail.
- No Full Name Given:
- The first names of the Herk-Heimer Sisters are unknown.
- We see that three members of the Hinkle-Horn Honking Club are named George, Henry, and Freddy, but we don't know their surnames, if they have any.
- We don't know the first names of Mr. and Mrs. J Carmichael Krox, nor what the "J" stands for.
- No Name Given: The only characters with names are Van Vleck, the Herk-Heimer Sisters, three members of the Hinkle-Horn Honking Club (George, Freddy, and Henry), Jo and Mo Red-Zoff, Mr. and Mrs. J Carmichael Krox.
- An Odd Place to Sleep: Some creatures sleep on a barber shop pole, others on steps, strings, floors, and in mailboxes and keyholes.
- Rhyme Theme Naming: The Red-Zoff brothers are named Jo and Mo.
- Santa Claus: Briefly mentioned when it says that Jo and Mo Red-Zoff talk about Santa Claus in their sleep.
- Sleepwalking: A number of the creatures walk in their sleep.
- Spoof Aesop: At one point, the narrator warns the reader never to drink in their dreams, lest they have a nightmare about having the wrong drink and wake up screaming.
- Super-Scream: An unintentional example; Snorter McPhail and his band of snorers have to sleep in a cave twenty miles away so that they don't destroy the town with their nightly snores.
- Talking in Your Sleep: Brothers Jo and Mo Redd-Zoff, the world's finest sleep-talkers, have been at it every night for 55 years, discussing a variety of topics with each other.
- Theme Twin Naming: Implied. The Red-Zoff brothers are named Jo and Mo, and they're implied to be twins, since they've apparently both been sleep-talking for 55 years.
- Tongue Twister: The "moose/goose juice" portion of the poem.
