I'm Awake!

March 20, 2017
With the moon still hanging in the night sky, a wide-eyed hamster pounces on his sleeping father, proudly shrieking the title’s message. Eaton (Two Dumb Ducks) captures their punchy back-and-forth in speech balloons, with the groggy father becoming alert in a hurry after learning that his little one has “been up for a while” and even made pancakes (“Or tried to...”). “We’re out of paper towels,” adds the small hamster, and a page turn shows the fallout from the pancake-making fiasco, with flour pouring onto the floor, a sudsy sink overflowing, and other disasters in the making, such as a stand mixer resting on a barstool perched on the counter. Eaton’s digitally colored pen-and-ink drawings have as much energy as his young hero, and the divide between the protagonist’s innocence and the chaos he leaves in his wake creates comedy that kids and adults can appreciate equally, if separately. While everyone is sleeping at book’s end (humorously, the hamster’s mother has slept through the entire exchange), the mischievous ending suggests that this is only a brief respite. Ages 5–8. Agent: Rosemary Stimola, Stimola Literary Studio.

March 1, 2017
A rambunctious hamster tests its sleepy dad's patience. Beginning with frontmatter pages, cartoon-style drawings with digital coloring use speech balloons to deliver the text, which is completely written in dialogue. Sleeping Dad is rudely awakened by his rambunctious child, while another parent sleeps soundly, somehow blocking out the hyperactive barrage of chatter, to which Dad responds with monosyllabic utterances. Although he remains in bed for the entire book, the exclamation, "I even made pancakes!" gets Dad's attention: "What?" he asks. "Or tried to..." responds the child. This sets up ensuing wordless depictions of a disastrous scene in the kitchen, its door wide open to the outside. All the spilled milk and such ultimately attracts a group of cats reminiscent of Wanda Gag's millions. But before they descend, Dad, still in bed and listening to the incessant babble, has a bright idea: "Hey, can you do a Dad impression?" he asks, and the child immediately calms down and starts yawning and complaining of exhaustion. As the sun rises, child and father fall asleep, but a concluding wordless spread shows the family dog in hot pursuit of the cats as they race up the stairs toward the sleeping hamsters. Expert pacing distinguishes this picture book, which will provoke laughter from children and perhaps rueful recognition of pre-dawn rising from adults. Sure to gather fans in its wake. (Picture book. 3-6)

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May 1, 2017

PreS-Hamster races up the stairs to his parents' bedroom, where he yells, "Dad!" to two sleeping hamsters. Wide awake, Hamster uses various tactics to try to rouse his father. The groggy father is alarmed when Hamster shares that he's made pancakes and says, "We're out of paper towels." The following full-page wordless spread shows a wrecked kitchen, strewn with paper towels. Testing the doorbell over and over and warning that there are cats downstairs, Hamster manages to wake his beleaguered father just enough for Dad to get the upper hand, and everyone resumes sleeping, just as the sun comes up. The book's amusing conclusion will resonate with sleep-deprived parents everywhere. The colorful illustrations are comic-style with speech bubbles, while varying perspectives and text size convey the enthusiasm of the young hamster. VERDICT Preschoolers and parents alike will relate to this humorous story of an energetic little one trying to wake his sleepy father.-Ramarie Beaver, Plano Public Library System, TX

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