The Baby Who Stayed Awake Forever
Sandra Salsbury. Doubleday, $18.99 (40p) ISBN 978-0-5938-0587-9
The gauntlet is thrown from the start of this chilling,
not-so-hyperbolic picture book. Text that channels a round-headed, wide-eyed baby’s bedtime intransigence begins, “Sleeping is for koalas and teenagers. This baby intended to stay awake forever.” With various cries piercing the night air, Baby rebuffs all things soporific from a desperate, bleary Mama, Papa, and sister: “Not even seventeen binkies were enough to make this baby go to sleep.” The hour-by-hour telling is not so much a battle of wills as it is an appeal to comity, especially after a downstairs neighbor pipes up. Salsbury skillfully wields a wealth of composition styles to convey the excruciating passage of time (“At 2:15, Baby yelled a bit.
At 2:30, she laughed at her
own yelling”), until it seems
that Baby has finally passed out, dreaming dreams of “glittering stars.” Nope, scratch that: “Not this baby!” Caretakers and new sibs will find plenty of comic comfort and validation in these pages. Characters are portrayed with light brown skin. Ages 3–7. (Mar.)
Details
Reviewed on: 12/12/2024
Genre: Children's
Library Binding - 40 pages - 978-0-593-80588-6
Other - 978-0-593-80589-3