No Go Sleep!

Starred review from January 2, 2012
“No go sleep!” insists a baby, and clearly his parents aren’t going to change his mind. But the rest of the world is more than ready to call it a day, and celestial bodies, nearby animals, a car driving down the street, and even the front door give it the old college try. “When you wake up, I’ll be back to play,” promises the sun. “Who? Yes me,” pledges the owl. “I’ll stay awake and watch over you.” “No!” says the stubborn baby, seemingly immune to this cosmic persuasion, though his eyes say otherwise. Kate Feiffer, who last collaborated with her father on My Side of the Car, has written the perfect go-to book for the go-to-sleep impaired. With its lulling tone and gentle, comic cajoling, it has nightly must-read written all over it. Jules Feiffer’s legendary ink lines beautifully capture a nascent human in all his lumpy discontent. Especially revelatory is how he conjures up the beauty of a starry, marine-blue night and all the creatures and things that go into making the world reassuringly benevolent. Ages 3–7.

January 15, 2012
Father and daughter Feiffers deliver a bedtime book underscoring the notion that sometimes only pure exhaustion will lull a baby to sleep. When the blue pajama'ed baby announces "No go sleep," he means it. Page after page of reassurances from parents, the setting sun, the watchful moon, bunnies, owls and even a car driving by saying "Beep, beep, sleep, sleep" are all for naught. The text's lilting cadence coupled with the cool, nighttime palette might make readers expect the baby to acquiesce, but he's not one to fall for such standard bedtime-book ploys. When the mommy says, "Please go to sleep," in a left-hand illustration depicting her leaning over the crib of a calm but still wide-awake baby, the facing page shows baby simply and firmly responding, "NO!" Funny in and of itself after such a long build-up of gentle reassurances, the humor of this blunt refusal is enhanced by Jules Feiffer's picture of the baby, no longer calm and wide-eyed, but downright irascible and rigid in his adamant, wakeful state. But a page turn brings us to baby immediately closing his eyes anyway and falling fast asleep. A clever, funny addition to the bedtime-book shelf. (Picture book 2-5)

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Starred review from May 1, 2012

PreS-K-In this charming picture book, a baby speaks only a few words. But babies don't have to say much to have the world revolve around them. The parents' gentle nudges toward bedtime fall flat, so the sun steps in, saying, "I've gone for the day. When you wake up, I'll be back to play." Baby, still wide-eyed and frenetic, then hears from the moon, stars, a car, birds, frogs, bunnies, an owl, a tree, sheep, and various creatures and things inside the house, each closer and closer to the crib and its fretful occupant. Jules Feiffer's wonderful, mildly zany informality warms every image, and he super-soaks the pages in deliciously intense watercolors. Some of the text is lilting, some quirky; unlike Goodnight Moon, for instance, this isn't a lullaby in disguise. Will the book ease a child to sleep? Maybe, maybe not. What it will do is distract and entertain-and maybe even cheer up the weary adults who find themselves in a similar situation.-Susan Weitz, formerly at Spencer-Van Etten School District, Spencer, NY

Copyright 2012 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 15, 2012
Grades K-3 Father and daughter Jules and Kate Feiffer have joined forces again, with this traditional-feeling bedtime story. A restless baby proclaims, No go sleep! Mommy and Daddy offer quiet words of encouragement to no avail, and even the sun, the moon, the bunnies, and the owls try to allay the baby's fears. Page after page of friends, animate and inanimate, offer their own personal promises of safety and securitythe stars say, We'll twinkle and sprinkle sweet dreams down to you. The baby, unconvinced, says, NO! but soon closes his eyes and falls asleep. Kate Feiffer's deceptively simple text, occupying a narrow band at the bottom of each page, establishes a remarkable variety of characters in a few spare, convincing words. The homey quality of Jules Feiffer's almost mussy illustrations reflects the baby's fidgety unease, while careful use of color and light evoke the coming tranquility of dusk. Peppered with bits of irreverent, contemporary whims, the story's repetitive pattern will lull little ones to sleep, night after night.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)