Everyone's Awake

Harris (What Can a Citizen Do?) opens this comic romp with a nighttime view of a dark, brooding structure--half haunted mansion, half lighthouse. A page turn sets the lights ablaze as the child narrator discovers that, rather than sleeping, "everyone's awake." Things start quietly ("Grandma's at her needlework./ Dad is baking bread") but soon escalate: "The dog's into the eggnog: / Mom's tap dancing to Prince/ while Dad is on the laptop/ buying ten-yard bolts of chintz." Bold, silk-screen-esque forms coalesce into tapestries of gleeful chaos for the multiethnic family. Mom clutches the eggnog punch bowl with one arm and a vinyl record with the other; pajama-clad Dad lies belly-down with his laptop. The siblings aren't shy, either: "My brother's now reciting/ every line from Condorman/ while my sister is trapezing/ from the kitchen ceiling fan." Gothic mystery creeps in, too, as a ghostly shipwreck outside produces "long-dead/ Grandpa Paul" for a game of whist. Manic though it may be, the family's live-and-let-live attitude toward its members' rule-breaking peculiarities makes this rip-roaring romp by Meloy (The Whiz Mob and the Grenadine Kid) defiantly wholesome. Ages 5-8. Agent: Steven Malk, Writers House. (Mar.)

The plot of this picture book is summed up by the title. There is a large family living under one roof and they should be sleeping—but everyone is awake, including our young narrator. Written by Meloy, frontman of the band The Decemberists, the text frequently makes literary and pop culture references for adults to catch, like shout-outs to Prince and Baudelaire. Our narrator expresses quiet bewilderment at the antics of his siblings, parents, grandparents, and even the family pets. Illustrated by Harris, Dave Eggers's frequent collaborator, spreads start off delightfully simple but quickly grow more hectic as the family's insomniac activities intensify. Pictures are packed with details, inclusing clever allusions to other picture books and chapter books for young readers. The plot turns increasingly ridiculous, with brother and sister fighting an international war. However, the text ends with a crowd-pleasing underwear joke sure to crack up anyone, even those who might not follow the rest of the action. VERDICT Recommended for youngsters (and their grownups) who come from or enjoy observing a family with more quirks than every cast member of a Wes Anderson movie combined.—Chance Lee Joyner, Wilton Public and Gregg Free Library, NH