What You Never Knew About Beds, Bedrooms, & Pajamas

You make your bed in the morning. At times in the past, people really made their beds -- and at night they stuffed straw into a sack, making a bed to lie on.Nightclothes were first worn in the 1500s. Before that, people slept in their day clothes, their underwear, or nothing at all.In Ancient Rome, bedrooms were small. A servant guarded the doorway by sleeping across it.Learn these facts and more in this true but funny account as Newbery Honor Patricia Lauber and celebrated illustrator John Manders go under the covers to explore beds, bedrooms, and pajamas since the Stone Age. They'll show you how the world's been sleeping since the dawn of time.

Patricia Lauber is the author of the Around-the-House series and more than 125 other books for young people. Her Volcano: The Eruption and Healing of St. Helens was a Newbery Honor Book. She lives with her husband and two cats, Beemer and MeToo, in New Canaan, Connecticut.

John Manders uses an old master's technique of layering colored glazes over a monochromatic underpainting and does extensive research for many of his projects. He and his wife, Lisa, live with two dogs and a parrot in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.