Twenty Yawns
by Jane Smiley (Author) Lauren Castillo (Illustrator)
As her mom reads a bedtime story, Lucy drifts off. But later, she awakens in a dark, still room, and everything looks mysterious. How will she ever get back to sleep?
Featuring lyrical text and beautiful illustrations, this bedtime tale from Pulitzer Prize winner Jane Smiley and Caldecott Honor recipient Lauren Castillo evokes the splashy fun of the beach and the quietude of a moonlit night, with twenty yawns sprinkled in for children to discover and count.
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Perfect bedtime story for the end of a busy day.
ALA/Booklist
Publishers Weekly
In her first outing as picture book author, Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Smiley (A Thousand Acres) explores the spookiness of being awake when everyone else has fallen asleep. After a long day at the beach, Lucy and her parents are out of steam. Mom dozes off during Lucy's bedtime read-aloud, and Lucy finds her father slumbering in his armchair when she tiptoes into the living room to retrieve her bear, Molasses. Lucy's sense of solitude is sharpened as she sees her drawings hanging on her bedroom wall: "Everyone in the pictures seemed to be watching her--Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Elizabeth, Mom, and Dad." But this haunted moment passes, and by the time Lucy has put her beloved stuffed animals to bed, she's calm and ready for sleep. Castillo's (Yard Sale) spreads call up just the right sense of moonlit otherworldliness. Her signature soft black outlines unite the beach prelude with the main nighttime story, and she quietly embraces diversity by making Lucy's family biracial. As a bonus, readers can search for the title's 20 yawns. Ages 3-7. Author's agent: Molly Friedrich, Friedrich Agency. Illustrator's agent: Paul Rodeen, Rodeen Literary Management. (Apr.)
Copyright 2016 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.School Library Journal
PreS-Gr 1--Lucy and her parents spend a delightful but exhausting day at the beach. Lucy digs a hole, rolls down a dune, chases a gull, and builds a sand castle. At bedtime, Mom falls asleep even before she finishes reading Lucy a story. Bright moonlight wakens the child, who searches for her toy bear and eventually carries all her stuffed animals to bed. The animals, the people in Lucy's drawings, and the moon yawn before settling down to sleep. Castillo's illustrations capture the warmth and vitality of sun-drenched beach activities as well as the shadowy calm of moonlit rooms. They add immeasurably to the story's tone and spot-on child-focused sensibilities. Hand-lettered onomatopoeia sounds like "swoosh" and "flap" add flair to the well-designed pages. VERDICT A sweet soporific and an attractive option for most collections wanting to refresh bedtime selections.--Kathy Piehl, Minnesota State University Library, Mankato
Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.Yawning
