Jake Stays Awake by Michael Wright (Holtzbrinck/Feiwel & Friends, $16.95, 9780312367978/031236797X, 40 pp., ages 3-7, October)
Stay Awake, Sally by Mitra Modarressi (Putnam, $16.99, 9780399245459/0399245456, 32 pp., ages 3-5, October)
These two humorous books turn children's bedtime ploys on their ears. The first, from newcomer Michael Wright, stars young Jake, who believes he can sleep only if he's between his mother and father. The characters, with their oblong heads and expressive dot-and-line features, seem at once both oddly familiar and utterly unique. At times, Jake looks fully grown, so quick is he to monopolize his parents' "bed made for two, not a bed made for three." When the couple has had enough, they insist on a different approach. Scenes of the family lined up under a blanket on the home's rooftop (the dog dangling for dear life), shoehorned into the bathtub or stretched out on the kitchen counter will have both children and parents laughing at the lengths to which they will go for some shuteye.
Sally the raccoon, on the other hand, longs to go
to sleep in her own bed, but her parents put on the brakes. "The night
is still young!/ Come play," her parents say. Modarressi (Timothy
Tugbottom Says No) sets just the right tone of contrast, with Sally as
the do-gooder ("Tomorrow's a school day,/ I must get some rest") and
her parents as the naughty instigators ("Oh, school! Pish posh, dear./
There are cookies to bake…/ And brownies/ and muffins/ …A six-layer
cake"). Their warm, subtle expressions emphasize the familial bond. In
the book's building climax, poor Sally concedes, "You can read me one
story." But her parents raise the stakes with stall tactics
recognizable to any child who's ever pled his or her thirst, hunger or
fright: "Would you care for some water?" "Are you sure you're
well-fed?" "Shall we check for a monster/ Under your bed?" "ENOUGH!"
Sally cries and, in a model response, continues: "You'll just have to
go./ I love you a lot,/ But my answer is no." All ends well, with a
parting shot of the now-darkened treehouse. This pair of books may well
put the kibosh on a few annoying nighttime habits.--Jennifer M. Brown