In the playfully self-referential picture book The Greatest Bedtime Story Ever by author and illustrator Jessie Sima (Not Quite Narwhal; Harriet Gets Carried Away), a friendly yet prideful elf describes to readers how they crafted a literary masterpiece that charmed a grumpy dragon to sleep.
The elf greets readers before the title page: "OH, HELLO THERE! It's wonderful to see a friendly face" and continues invitingly, "make yourself comfortable. I have just the tale for you. Ahem." It all began "on an evening stroll" in search of a perfect spot to compose a story. However, "inspiration was nowhere to be found," and the dejected elf mopes inside a fairy ring, unaware of the chatting mermaids, singing family of griffins, and fishing frog person in a yellow rain slicker nearby. When a sound escapes from a cave the elf had never noticed before, they wander among "damp, twisting tunnels" to find the source. There, the elf stumbles upon a very sleepy dragon who says that only two things can make it doze off: "a little bedtime snack" or "THE GREATEST BEDTIME STORY EVER." The elf (who would prefer not to be a snack) writes a "hilarious... profoundly moving... informative... dazzling" and "suspenseful" tale. When the dragon drifts into a "deep.../ slumber," the elf sneaks out--only to realize they accidentally left the book behind. ("How could I deprive the world of my finest work?!") The decision to return and save the manuscript seals their fate, partially evidenced by a wordless double-page spread of the elf staring down the dragon's gaping, toothy maw.
The elf--surrounded by darkness and perched on a log near a roaring fire--periodically interrupts their narration to boast about the story being told. The elf's dramatic hubris is farcical and repeated references to "THE GREATEST BEDTIME STORY EVER" add to the absurdity. Sima uses luxurious saturated purple hues to evoke a cavernous darkness and luminous golds to add emphasis and humor: as the elf reads to the dragon, light flows from the book and illuminates the dragon's exaggerated reactions to the "shocking... whimsical" tale. The digitally created illustrations hint at the story's conclusion, such as including tiny skulls and bones littering the ground around the dragon's nest. Sima deftly develops a nuanced yet extremely accessible adventure where the child-coded dragon holds the power and the young reader is in on the joke. --Kieran Slattery, freelance reviewer, teacher, co-creator of Gender Inclusive Classrooms
Shelf Talker: This funny and self-referential greatest story ever plays with picture book conventions and gives young readers an enjoyable twist.