Tilibou: Bedtime Stories for Kids · Calm Sleep Stories for Toddlers

A bedtime story for children. This morning, Mom packs a little bag: a toothbrush, pajamas, and Mochi, right on top. Today, Emma is going to Auntie's house. Before leaving, Mom makes her a promise: you'll play, you'll laugh, and tonight, I'll come get you. "Mom's coming back?" asks Emma. "Mom's coming back. Always." Then comes a big hug, all round, all warm, with Mochi, her lovey, squeezed in the middle. His heart goes poc-poc-poc, so fast, and he keeps that hug very preciously.

At Auntie's, everything is new: a new table, a new rug, toys Emma doesn't...

A bedtime story for children. Today, it's a little cool outside, and the wind blows ever so lightly against the window. So Mom turns on the heating: a little click, a soft breath of warmth. Emma rests her hand on the radiator. "Hot! So hot!" All day long, a warm breeze drifts through the house, from room to room. A perfectly simple day. Well, almost.

That night, under the quilt, the meadow is even warmer than usual, like a meadow in the middle of summer. Emma falls asleep with Mochi, her lovey, and the Evening World wakes...

A bedtime story for children. In Emma's room, there is a little nightlight shaped like a mushroom, with one tiny round button. Today, for the first time, Emma is allowed to turn it on all by herself. She brings her finger closer, she hesitates, she pushes. Click. A soft, honey-colored light grows in the room, like a little sun waking up. Emma is so proud: all by herself, like a big girl.

At bedtime, Mom gives her the lighthouse kiss and tells her that it stays lit all night long, even if the nightlight falls asleep. Emma...

That evening, in Pumpkin Hollow, it was Halloween night, the one when, usually, all the children run outside from door to door for the great candy hunt. But tonight… listen. It was raining. A soft, fine rain, falling on the pumpkins and making Lantern Square glisten, a velvet rain. Zélie is quite disappointed: with this rain, the candy hunt is impossible, and even her big hat goes drip.

Réglisse, on the other hand, is perfectly happy, warm by the fire: rain, at least, is a noise that doesn't frighten, soft, plip plop plop, like a lull...

That evening, in Pumpkin Hollow, the air was fresher than usual: winter was really on its way. And on Lantern Square, everyone was worried, because during the night something had appeared: an enormous silvery web, stretched between the two tallest trees, shimmering in the fog. Réglisse panics at once (a big web means a big spider, and he doesn't like spiders one bit, with all those legs!).

The whole Hollow wants to burn the web, tear it down, get rid of it as fast as possible. «That spider is going to catch us all!» But Zélie...

A bedtime story for children. This morning, the kitchen smells of toast and warm milk. Emma eats her applesauce: one spoonful for her, one spoonful for Mochi, her lovey, sitting on her lap. And oops, a bit of applesauce lands right on Mochi's ear, the softest one, the one Emma always holds tight.

Mom sees it right away: Mochi needs a bath, a little spin in the machine. Emma worries, but Mom promises straight away that tonight he'll come back, all soft, all clean, right against her. So Emma watches Mochi leave in the little basket, presses...

That evening, in Pumpkin Hollow, it was THE big night: the Great Costume Parade! Once a year, all the villagers dress up and parade across Lantern Square, and the finest costume of the night is chosen. And this year, Zélie wanted to win, very, very badly. Her idea: to conjure up, with one wave of her wand, a magnificent Star-Princess costume, with a shining gown, a crown of moonlight and a rainbow train.

The only trouble is that Zélie's spells always do something other than planned… But tonight, she's sure of it, it's going to work...

That evening, in Pumpkin Hollow, Zélie and Réglisse were strolling right at the end of the path, where no one ever goes anymore. Because at the end of the path there is an old, leaning house, with shutters that bang and boards that creak, that everyone calls the Scary House. Réglisse begs that they don't go that way: everyone knows it's haunted, it creaks, it bangs, it moans in the night.

But Zélie pricks up her ears and really listens to the sound the house makes. And the more she listens, the less it s...

A bedtime story for children. Here is Emma's room: a Big Bed, a round little rug, and a window with a curtain that breathes. On the shelf, three friends wait for evening: Pantin, all made of wood, Ball, all round, and Nina, standing up straight. And in Emma's arms, there is Mochi, her lovey. During the day, Mochi never talks: he watches and listens.

At the park, Emma builds a sand tower, so tall. Then she slips. The tower crumbles, her knee gets a little boo-boo, and her heart gets a big sorrow. Mom comes running and...

A bedtime story for children. Tonight, in Bellhill, nothing happens. No phone call, no mission, no hiccup. It's the last evening of the season, and the red fire station is simply getting ready for bed. Marco takes out his cloth, Nino takes his own, and together they polish Big Red, thinking back over everything that's happened since that very first mission.

So the stories come back, one by one, like soft little pictures: the little cat right at the top of the big oak tree, the striped ball on the school roof, Pompon trembling before the soft...

That evening, in Pumpkin Hollow, it was the great Halloween candy hunt. All the children were running from door to door, little bags in hand, calling «trick or treat!». And at Granny Brindille's there was a special game: whoever guessed how many sweets were hidden in the big magic jar would win THE biggest bag of sweets in the Hollow. And guess who found the right number, one thousand three hundred and twelve? Little Zélie!

What a bag! It was so big that Zélie couldn't even carry it: she had to drag it along the grou...

A bedtime story for children. A big wind picked up over Bellhill at the end of the day, a wind that bangs the shutters, rolls the buckets, and sets the branches dancing. In a single gust, it scatters three little hiccups across the village: laundry blown away in a garden, a market stall knocked over on the square, and above all Bruno's sash, the one that always trails on the ground, now caught right at the top of the flagpole.

The first two hiccups are sorted out quickly, all together, in good spirits. But the sash is...

That evening, in Pumpkin Hollow, it was Halloween night, the most beautiful night of the year. But something was missing… Can you feel it too? Usually, in the sky, there is a great round golden moon that lights the whole Hollow with its soft glow. And tonight, the sky was pitch black: the moon was not there. On Lantern Square, everyone suddenly felt a little smaller, a little more alone, even Réglisse, who doesn't like the dark one bit.

Because the dark, says Réglisse, trembling, is where all the things you can't see are hiding, and...

A bedtime story for children. The news spreads through the whole neighborhood faster than a gust of wind: Lena, Bellhill's nurse, has found a little hedgehog hurt at the foot of a bush, one paw injured and his spines full of leaves. Within minutes, the whole village comes running, and that's where the real problem of the evening begins.

Because there are too many people, too many voices, too many hands reaching out all at once. The little hedgehog, terrified, curls up into a ball and refuses to move. Everyone genuinely wants to help, and it's exactly...

A bedtime story for children. On Bellhill's square, a strange smell drifts over the cobblestones, a smell of hot sugar turning to burnt. It's coming from Rosa's bakery: she has been preparing the big cake for the village festival since morning. Her old oven, temperamental for years, has decided tonight to heat up twice as hot as it should.

When the fire station arrives, there's smoke but not a single flame: it's just an overcooked cake, nothing more, and it's the only fire of the whole season. Rosa, though, is heartbroken. The festival cake is black on...

That evening, in Pumpkin Hollow, it was a big night: the choosing of the pumpkin of honour, the one that would sit right at the top of Lantern Square to watch over the Hollow all through Halloween night. And this year, the one chosen was Croquette! An adorable pumpkin, who talks a lot, a lot, a lot (of course, a pumpkin has no arms to wave about, so it talks). But Croquette has a tiny, minuscule, teensy problem: she doesn't want to be scary.

Because tomorrow, Granny Brindille is to carve her a face, and everyone wants...

A bedtime story for children, and the grand finale of the Tom the Pirate season. The sky is pink and violet, the sea is perfectly calm, and on the smallest pirate ship in the world Tom opens his chest one last time before nightfall. Thirteen keepsakes, thirteen small treasures given back along the way. Then the sail shivers. One final map arrives, made of light, carrying a song barely above a whisper.

Sail to the lagoon where the lights are dancing, a lullaby has gone missing, give it back its tune. The map leads to Lantern Lagoon...

A bedtime story for children. Tonight is the community soup night on Bellhill's square: Rosa stirs her big pot, the tables are set outside, and the whole village is sitting down together, Nino and Captain Marta included, no uniforms, just to share a meal. Then there's a loud electric click, and everything goes out at once. The streetlamps, the windows, the fairy lights. Complete darkness.

A brief, surprised silence falls over the square, then a worried murmur runs through the children sitting around the pot. The darkness, all at once, feels very big and very thick. Bruno...

That evening, in Pumpkin Hollow, Zélie and Réglisse were strolling across Lantern Square, under the soft fog, when they heard a funny noise: a «boo», followed by a «hic». It sounded like a ghost that had swallowed the wrong way! Curious, Zélie wants to go and see, while Réglisse would rather head home and dive under the covers. Behind the biggest pumpkin, all white and all soft, there is a little ghost named Hippo, practising in his corner.

Poor Hippo so wants to go «BOO», a great, truly frightening BOO. But each time, it's stron...

A bedtime story for children. Tonight, the fire station leaves town. Up on the hillside, at Josette's farm, the hens are heading in clucking and the old tractor rests near the barn. A little lamb named Curly was still playing outside, chasing one last golden butterfly, when she slipped under the big hedge and got stuck, her wool caught in the branches.

The phone rings very softly at the fire station. Nino, Pompon and Captain Marta head up the hill in Big Red, while Marco stays behind to tidy the garage. Up there, Curly bleats, pulls, struggles...

A bedtime story for children. On Bellhill's square, the old stone fountain sings softly, as it does every evening. Bruno the mayor hurries across the square, his sash trailing behind him, holding the big key to the town hall, the one he's always liked to spin around his finger. One spin too many, and plop: the key vanishes to the bottom of the basin, among the coins and the dead leaves.

But tomorrow morning, the whole school's snack party is happening in that very hall. Bruno already pictures disaster: the children out on the sidewalk, the party...

A small, sad, grey map arrives on the Royal Sardine. That is unusual, because Tom's maps normally spill over with colour. This one comes from Tickle Island, the funniest place in the whole archipelago, where the sand goes heehee under your feet and sets off fits of giggles. Except that the island has lost its laugh.

Off to the island where the sand laughed out loud, the laughter has run away, go and bring it home. When Tom and Moustache land, the sand is grey, dull and silent. The island explains that once the boats stopped calling...

A bedtime story for children. Tomorrow is the village festival in Bellhill, and the fire station is going to parade with Big Red, lights flashing and siren blaring. Everyone is thrilled, except one: Pompon, the station's dog, who slips all the way to the bottom of his boot the moment he hears the word siren. His ears flatten, his nose trembles, and he refuses to come out.

Because Big Red's real siren, the one that wails, hurts his ears. A dog hears much farther and much louder than we do: what sounds just a little loud to...

That evening, in Pumpkin Hollow, the fog was very soft and the air smelled of cold, the kind of cold that nips the tip of your nose and announces that winter is arriving on tiptoe. And in the Hollow, when the cold arrives, there is only one thing to do: the famous Night-Warming Soup, the one that warms you right down to your toes, even the toes at the very back. Zélie and Réglisse are already delighted… but Granny Brindille, the old witch, is pacing about, quite distraught.

«I've lost my recipe!» The recipe for the Ni...

The map that arrives this evening smells of warm cake, and its letters wobble a little. It comes from Granny Coquille, the oldest and wisest turtle in the sea, whose shell carries a seashell for each thing she has learned. She has forgotten something important: a treasure hidden not at the bottom of the sea, but somewhere inside her own head.

Tomorrow is the smallest baby turtle's very first birthday, and for a hundred years it has been Granny who bakes the big cake everybody looks forward to. Except the recipe has flown out of her memory...

A bedtime story for children. In Bellhill, in the evening, once class is over, a small group of children always stays behind at after-school care, waiting to be picked up. That evening, right at the top of the school's pointy roof, something round, striped red and yellow, glints in the last light: the class's big ball has flown off all by itself, carried away by a mischievous gust of wind, and tomorrow is the big game.

At the fire station, Nino and Marco are polishing Big Red when the phone's little bell rings. Bruno the mayor is...

There is a little village you won't find on any map: Pumpkin Hollow. And tonight is a very special night, the funniest night of the year, Halloween night. On Lantern Square, all the pumpkins are grinning their big gap-toothed grins, the fog is as soft as candyfloss, and the dead leaves, when you step on them, giggle! High up in the biggest pumpkin lives Zélie, the kindest little apprentice witch in the world, with her far-too-big hat, and Réglisse, her round black cat, the most easily scared in all of Pumpkin Hollow.

But tonight, in th...

A bedtime story for children. In Bellhill, a small round town tucked between the market square and the fields, stands an old red fire station with a pointy roof and a big bell right at the top. Tonight, the whole station is having dinner around the big table, and at the end of the bench, so small in his big uniform, sits Nino. In one corner, curled up at the bottom of a boot far too big for him, Pompon, the station's dog, snores softly, dreaming of a great big bone.

Then the phone rings, light as...

This morning, on the bluest sea in the world, a fog has settled so thick that Moustache cannot even see his own arms. Tom holds out a hand and they hold on tight, so as not to lose one another. Then a map arrives, damp with mist and almost impossible to read.

Where the fog hides the sea and the sky, close your eyes, listen, and you will find what counts. A family of seals has got lost in the fog of the Lost Cove, and little Pilou has been separated from his dad. With their eyes...

This morning Moustache has a genuine crisis on his hands. With eight feet he needs sixteen socks, and he can only find three, none of them matching. Where do lost socks actually go? That, they say, is the greatest mystery in the whole sea. And just then, a map starts to shiver at the tip of the sail.

Sail to the cove where everything that gets lost comes back. So there really is, at the far end of the archipelago, an astonishing beach made not of sand but of socks: whole mountains of them, dunes with spots...

That evening, the sky was turning all orange, like a mandarin: it was the end of the day. And in front of the school's big blue gate, someone was waiting, right on time, as always, as promised. Do you know who? Mum. When the little bell rang and the gate opened ever so gently, a tiny little girl with a slightly-too-big backpack ran across the yard: Lila, throwing herself into her arms.

Mum hugs her tight, tight, and breathes in her hair, which smells of school: pencil, paint, and a little bit of snack. «I missed you, y...

The sky turns black above the archipelago, and it starts to grumble. Boom. Then boom-boom. Every night the same storm comes back and frightens everybody. But Granny Coquille, the oldest and wisest turtle in the sea, sends Tom the Pirate a reassuring map: go up and take a look, this is no nasty storm.

When the sky goes boom and the sea takes fright, climb up to the giant: he wants to play, not to steal. The Royal Sardine cannot sink, so the crossing turns into a fairground ride: up she goes on the wave, whee, and...

That morning, at Lila's school, the sun comes softly through the window. Lila hangs her coat under her own little-sun label and sings a bit of the morning song. But this morning, there's something different: near the big blue gate, there's a child Lila has never seen before. A little boy, a brand-new jumper, a backpack clutched tight against him. He doesn't run, he doesn't play, he just stands there, right at the edge, against the wall.

«Here's a new friend,» says Miss Lou. «His name is Sacha, and it's his very first day.» But Sacha says noth...

Since the middle of the night, a deep rumble has been shaking the whole archipelago of the Thousand Coves, and nobody is sleeping. Moustache recognises the sound straight away: it is the Kraken, the largest creature in the sea, so huge that all anyone ever sees of him is his arms, and every sailor is frightened of him.

The map that arrives is soaked through, as though it had been crying. Head for the big one who scares you in the dark, it says, because the biggest of giants is carrying a great sorrow tonight. On the...

That morning, at Lila's school, the sky was all grey with a little chilly wind: proper coat weather. And Miss Lou has just clapped her hands: they're going out to play in the yard! Everyone runs to fetch their coat from their hook. Lila puts on her lovely yellow coat, one sleeve, then the other. Just one thing left to do: close the zip. «And that, I can do all by myself, like a big girl.»

Except the zip does not agree. It jams, it catches, it refuses to go up. Lila pulls, pulls again, gets a li...

That morning, at Lila's school, the sun comes softly through the window. Lila has hung her coat under her own label with the little sun, she's sung the morning song, and she knows now that Mum always comes back. But there's a tiny something in her tummy this morning that she's pretending not to hear: a need to wee, very small at first, like a polite little «knock-knock».

«Not just yet. Later,» Lila tells herself. Because to wee at school, you have to go to THE school toilets, and that's not like home. Over there, everything is new...

Another sung map for Tom the Pirate and his friend Moustache, aboard the Royal Sardine. This one is crumpled all over and, oddly enough, it smells of pepper. Course set for the island that goes atchoo all day long: find whatever is tickling it, and you will be back by night.

An island that sneezes, atchoo after atchoo, from morning until evening? Moustache does not believe a word of it. And yet, somewhere in the Thousand Coves, a perfectly round island with a hill shaped like a nose really does have an itchy nose, and nobody for...

That morning, at Lila's school, a warm, green smell is drifting down the corridor: it comes from the canteen. Lila lifts her little nose, she sniffs once, twice, and before she even knows what it is, she blurts out a big «yuck!». Her too-big backpack clutched to her, with her cuddly's ear poking out, Lila has already decided she won't like it.

In the reading corner, before the canteen, someone is listening: Doudou-Hibou, the cuddly who never moves in front of grown-ups. And when the teacher steps away toward the window, the little owl opens one eye an...

Tom the Pirate is like no other pirate. Aboard his tiny Royal Sardine, he is not after gold: he looks for lost treasures so he can hand them back to whoever is missing them. This morning a soaking wet map floats up from the bottom of the sea, drawn in fish scales, its letters blowing little bubbles as they go.

The sail shivers, and the map sings its song: dive straight down where the sea turns blue, listen to the silence, and you will find something better. It comes from Marée, a mermaid who has lost h...

That day, at Lila's school, the morning has been busy: painting, blocks, the name song, snack. And now the classroom light is all soft, Miss Lou has half-closed the curtains: it's quiet time, nap time. Everyone goes to their little bed with their cuddly… all the children rest, all of them, except one: Lila, eyes wide open, heart beating a little fast.

«I don't sleep at school,» whispers Lila. «I only sleep at home, in my bed, with Mum not far away. Here, I can't.» Closing your eyes far from home is all new, and it's a little...