Can I Just Take a Nap?

April 9, 2012
Rauss, winner of the 2010 Cheerios New Author Contest, debuts with a chirpy rhyming story of a boy with one thing on his mind: sleep. Unluckily, the world is one noisy place: “There were radios blaring and cars that would beep./ Aiden McDoodle just wanted some sleep./ He tried closing the doors, he tried covering his head./ He tried upstairs and downstairs, he tried under the bed.” Joined by his mother and energetic sister, Aiden visits places like the library and park, dragging along his blanket and pillow, but can’t find a quiet spot. Finally, Aiden loses his patience and shouts for the world to pipe down: “He had yelled it so loudly, it was heard sea to sea,/ from the deepest of valleys to the tallest of trees.” In somewhat static compositions that don’t do much to play up a sense of cacophony, Shepperson depicts a bustling neighborhood filled with baseball-playing kids, musicians, and an ice cream truck making its rounds. Although Rauss doesn’t offer an explanation for Aiden’s extreme fatigue, readers will grasp the implication that everyone needs an occasional time-out. Ages 3–up.

May 1, 2012
Rauss, winner of the 2010 Cheerios(R) New Author Contest, reveals the travails of poor Aiden McDoodle as he searches for a quiet spot to get some sleep. He tries upstairs, downstairs, the backyard and even the town park. But each place is too noisy: "In the library the whispers built up to a riot, / until the librarian stepped in and shouted out, 'QUIET!' " When the noises of the baseball game, ice-cream truck, maintenance worker and the band practicing in the gazebo finally become too much, Aiden snaps. His plea for quiet is heard from sea to sea and into space. The world obligingly pauses long enough for him to run home, jump into bed and begin to snore before the noises resume. The lengthy lines of Rauss' rhyming verse add to its sometimes-stumbling rhythm, and readers never find out just why Aiden is so tired, a fact that detracts from the humor, especially given his seemingly younger sister's unflagging energy level. Shepperson's watercolor-and-ink artwork add to this disconnect, as they depict a quite ordinary day--the noise level looks to be nothing extraordinary. But readers will certainly feel for the tired tyke, whose facial expressions say it all as he desperately tries to find some rest amid everyone else's exuberance. Skip this, and stick with Karen Beaumont and Jackie Urbanovic's No Sleep for the Sheep (2005) for a story with a catchy rhythm that will really have listeners chiming in. (Picture book. 3-7)

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May 1, 2012

PreS-K-Aiden McDoodle wants to take a nap, but cars, radios, pets, and even chirping birds are keeping him awake. He tries to sleep in his backyard, but his brother is doing cannonballs into the pool. He tries the library but it's full of busy, active children. He tries the park but there's a baseball game going on and an ice-cream truck is arriving. Every place in town is noisy. In a loud voice that can be heard around the world, he shouts, "I don't mean to be rude, /but I'm ready to snap!/Can you all please be quiet/so I can just take a nap?" Everything is silent. Aiden races home to bed and falls asleep. But the noisemakers are restless. They can't stay still long. And then the irony: "Aiden McDoodle started to snore." The pen-and-ink and watercolor illustrations depict a cheerful, active neighborhood and one grumpy kid. Facial expressions are varied and funny, and the two-line rhyming stanzas read aloud well.-Ieva Bates, Ann Arbor District Library, MI

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