SHORTLISTED FOR THE CARNEGIE MEDAL FOR ILLUSTRATION
SHORTLISTED FOR THE V&A ILLUSTRATION AWARD

There is a train which has beds in their own small cabins so that you can sleep while the train rolls through the night. I went on one, not long ago...

Just as it's starting to get dark, a little girl and her family board the sleeper train - they'll travel all through the night, and reach their destination in the morning. But as the train rocks from side to side, the little girl can't sleep. It's all too exciting!

So, instead, she travels through her memory to all the different places she has slept - from her room at home, to a tent in the wild, to Mum's old room at Grandma and Grandad's house... But will that help her to drift off?

Gloriously illustrated in rich colours throughout, and written by a Booker shortlisted author, this captivating bedtime story will take readers on a journey through the vast Indian countryside, and carry them straight on to dreamland.

"A lilting cultural touchstone great for bedtime." Booklist

"A warm-hearted tale of family love and togetherness .... a soothing bedtime story." Red Reading Hub

"This visually vibrant yet gentle bedtime book promises, like the sleeper train, to calm and soothe readers." The Horn Book (starred review)

"Comforting, vibrant, soothing." Kirkus Reviews

"Layers feelings of comfort and warmth across time and space." Publishers Weekly

About the Author

Mick Jackson is an author from Lancashire, who now lives in Brighton. His first novel, The Underground Man, was shortlisted for the Booker Prize, the Whitbread First Novel Award and won the Royal Society of Authors' First Novel Award. He has since written three more novels, a novella and a collection of stories. He is also the author of picture books: While You're Sleeping, The Red Sledge, Ella May Does It Her Way and We're Moving House. Find Mick online at mickjackson.com

Baljinder Kaur is an illustrator living in the Midlands. She graduated from the Cambridge School of Art with a Masters degree in Children's Book Illustration and, in 2022, was awarded the CSACBI Illustration for Older Fiction Prize. Her work intimately reflects through the lens of a Panjabi and Sikh diaspora existence. You can find her online at baljinderkaur.com and on Instagram as @blahjinder.

Reviews
A warm-hearted tale of family love and togetherness. . . [a] soothing bedtime story. * Red Reading Hub *


Awards
Short-listed for Yoto Carnegie Medal for Illustration 2026 (UK).



Book Information
ISBN 9781529535150
Author Mick Jackson
Format Paperback
Page Count 32
Imprint Walker Books Ltd
Publisher Walker Books Ltd
Weight(grams) 270g