Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
READ TO ME/OPINION
TITLE: No More Naps! BY: Chris Grabenstein, illustrated by Leo Espinosa (Random House Books for Young Readers, February), ages 3-7, 40 pages, $17.99 hardback, $10.99 ebook.
STORY: A little girl with a long name refuses to nap for a long time. Instead, she fumes; she shrieks; she yells. She’s a baby, so she doesn’t have enough words to explain that she’s simply not sleepy. She only knows how to say, “No.” And so she does. Loudly.
She looks ridiculous while she’s being so negative, and in Espinosa’s colorful and busy illustrations, she is clearly exhausting her parents. Kids might notice and absorb those two naturalistic details.
But I hesitated before reviewing this book during the pandemic. The story is set in a friendly city, a world crammed with neighbors. Part of its message is how what happens in one family affects a community. When the exhausted father takes the adamant Annalise Devin McFleece out in the stroller to the city park for a walk — in the hope this will rock her to sleep — one neighbor after another interacts with them.
And, of course, nobody is wearing a facemask because this story is set in the usedto-be-normal world, where neighbors had noses and mouths.
But that fact opens an opportunity for adults and kids to talk about how life has changed lately, and why.
The situation devolves into a pun, which should
get kids thinking about how we use words: As father and daughter stroll along, he’s yawning so much he makes other people yawn. Everybody they pass asks whether they can “take” the nap since Annalise doesn’t want it.
Eventually, she does want to take a nap, but by then all the naps have been taken. She can’t have one … until they encounter a generous cat that has taken so many naps she has some to spare.
Although this is his first picture book, Grabenstein has written more than 50 books for elementary-age readers, young adults and adults. His Mr. Lemoncello series is a best-seller.
— Celia Storey Read to Me is a weekly review of short books.