While You Were Napping

Starred review from August 4, 2014
A mother promises her remonstrating, wriggling son that he “won’t miss a thing” while he’s napping. But if his older sister is to be believed, the Best Party Ever took place right outside his window. “COMING SOON! BIG FUN! STAY AWAKE!” announces a skywriter, followed by robots, pirates, firemen, the uncovering of a dinosaur skeleton, and an apparent daylong moratorium on “Don’ts,” which meant kids could drive bulldozers, throw mud, drink ketchup, race in their underpants, and shoot off fireworks. “We all took pictures to prove to you how dangerous it was since you were the only kid napping when it happened,” writes Offill (Sparky), whose channeling of sibling snark is a thing of beauty. Blitt (George Washington’s Birthday: A Mostly True Tale) mischievously and masterfully choreographs the neverending festivities, which teeter between backyard reality and thwarted, dreamy desire. His watercolors will reward close-reading visual joke connoisseurs, as well as those who can’t wait to find out what that poor kid (he could be any of us, really) misses out on next. Ages 4–8. Author’s agent: Sally Wofford-Girand, Union Literary.

August 15, 2014
A wickedly naughty big sister recounts all the fun her brother misses while he's napping. The text's focus isn't on sibling rivalry, but this dynamic is unquestionably its seed. Kicked out of the nest by little brothers and sisters, elder children exact revenge in devious ways-who can forget Lilly's cribside antics in Kevin Henkes' Julius, the Baby of the World? In that title, Lilly is reformed and comes to love and protect her baby brother; no such resolution emerges in Offill's mischievous hands. The entire book is made up of the sister's descriptions of all the fun that she and the neighborhood children had while little brother was napping, and she regales (tortures?) him with tales of pirates, robots, bulldozers, dinosaur bones, french-fry sandwiches, fireworks and firefighters. Sparing not one grain of salt in the wound, wry text reads, "you were the only kid napping / when it happened." The appearance of astronauts ends the naptime orgy of exclusive fun. "Luckily, you slept right through it" is the concluding line, and it's accompanied by a picture depicting the boy scowling in bed and the sister perching at its foot. Toys and decorations bespeaking the boy's interest in all of the things she's described fill the bedroom, and it's a shame that earlier illustrations didn't include more of this real-world context. Beware the power of older siblings! (Picture book. 5-8)

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October 1, 2014

PreS-K-An older sister tells her brother about all the crazy things that she and the neighborhood kids supposedly did while he was taking a nap. Apparently inspired by the toys scattered in the boy's bedroom, she spins an outrageous tale of how they dug up yards with bulldozers, found a dinosaur skeleton, ate junk food brought by robots, set off fireworks, played with pirates and astronauts, and generally ran amok. This yarn is illustrated with Blitt's scrawly ink-and-pen watercolor pictures on full spreads and features a cast of oddly shaped children engaged in their various bizarre activities. Although the peculiar string of events may amuse some children, the story seems to lack focus and does not have much of a plot. An additional purchase.-Martha Simpson, Stratford Library Association, CT

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