While You Were Napping

Starred review from August 4, 2014
A mother promises her remonstrating, wriggling son that he “won’t miss a thing” while he’s napping. But if his older sister is to be believed, the Best Party Ever took place right outside his window. “COMING SOON! BIG FUN! STAY AWAKE!” announces a skywriter, followed by robots, pirates, firemen, the uncovering of a dinosaur skeleton, and an apparent daylong moratorium on “Don’ts,” which meant kids could drive bulldozers, throw mud, drink ketchup, race in their underpants, and shoot off fireworks. “We all took pictures to prove to you how dangerous it was since you were the only kid napping when it happened,” writes Offill (Sparky), whose channeling of sibling snark is a thing of beauty. Blitt (George Washington’s Birthday: A Mostly True Tale) mischievously and masterfully choreographs the neverending festivities, which teeter between backyard reality and thwarted, dreamy desire. His watercolors will reward close-reading visual joke connoisseurs, as well as those who can’t wait to find out what that poor kid (he could be any of us, really) misses out on next. Ages 4–8. Author’s agent: Sally Wofford-Girand, Union Literary.

August 15, 2014
A wickedly naughty big sister recounts all the fun her brother misses while he's napping. The text's focus isn't on sibling rivalry, but this dynamic is unquestionably its seed. Kicked out of the nest by little brothers and sisters, elder children exact revenge in devious ways-who can forget Lilly's cribside antics in Kevin Henkes' Julius, the Baby of the World? In that title, Lilly is reformed and comes to love and protect her baby brother; no such resolution emerges in Offill's mischievous hands. The entire book is made up of the sister's descriptions of all the fun that she and the neighborhood children had while little brother was napping, and she regales (tortures?) him with tales of pirates, robots, bulldozers, dinosaur bones, french-fry sandwiches, fireworks and firefighters. Sparing not one grain of salt in the wound, wry text reads, "you were the only kid napping / when it happened." The appearance of astronauts ends the naptime orgy of exclusive fun. "Luckily, you slept right through it" is the concluding line, and it's accompanied by a picture depicting the boy scowling in bed and the sister perching at its foot. Toys and decorations bespeaking the boy's interest in all of the things she's described fill the bedroom, and it's a shame that earlier illustrations didn't include more of this real-world context. Beware the power of older siblings! (Picture book. 5-8)

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October 1, 2014

PreS-K-An older sister tells her brother about all the crazy things that she and the neighborhood kids supposedly did while he was taking a nap. Apparently inspired by the toys scattered in the boy's bedroom, she spins an outrageous tale of how they dug up yards with bulldozers, found a dinosaur skeleton, ate junk food brought by robots, set off fireworks, played with pirates and astronauts, and generally ran amok. This yarn is illustrated with Blitt's scrawly ink-and-pen watercolor pictures on full spreads and features a cast of oddly shaped children engaged in their various bizarre activities. Although the peculiar string of events may amuse some children, the story seems to lack focus and does not have much of a plot. An additional purchase.-Martha Simpson, Stratford Library Association, CT

Copyright 2014 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2015
A big sister tells her brother everything he missed during his nap: bulldozer-driving, dinosaur fossils, pirates, space travel, and more. That her yarn is based on specific items in her brother's room--toy truck, dinosaur model, pirate book--adds insult to injury. The conversational text gets that teasing big-sisterly tone just right. The illustrations combine child-centered nonsense imagery with wicked humor adults will appreciate.

(Copyright 2015 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

November 1, 2014
Anyone who has a big sister -- or who's been one -- will recognize the truth and humor in this book that plays to little-kids' fear that all the best stuff happens while they're asleep. Big-sis relates to her brother all the things he missed by taking a nap: skywriting ("Coming Soon! Big Fun! Stay Awake!"), bulldozer-driving, dinosaur fossils in the yard, robots delivering cotton candy and French-fry sandwiches, fireworks ("even the littlest babies got to set them off"), pirates, space travel, and more. The yarn she spins, while it would appeal to most any kid, is based on specific items in her brother's room -- dinosaur model, toy truck, pirate book, robot -- adding insult to injury. Offill's conversational text gets that teasing big-sisterly tone just right. Blitt has done New Yorker covers, and his illustrations here combine child-centered nonsense imagery with some wicked humor that adults can appreciate. The caricatures of the children, for example, with their giant heads and huge foreheads, their Howdy-Doody haircuts or Betsy-Wetsy fixed stares, hark back to a time when the neighborhood kids played outside until dinnertime -- but this book's fun-time activities are definitely more Jackass than Dick and Jane. elissa gershowitz

(Copyright 2014 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)