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Who's Awake
in Springtime?
co-author, Mim
Green
illustrated by
Emilie Chollat
Holt, 2010
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*Children's
Book of the Month Club
selection
for
2/2010
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| From
the book jacket: |
Down, down
goes the sun,
And down
in the sea,
Fish find
a safe place to hide.
In
this rhythmic springtime tale,
animals of all kinds get ready
to sleep. As the sun sets, fish
find a place to hide, cats curl
up, and sheep huddle in their
wool coats. Still, not everyone
is asleep. The minnow, the
kitten, the lamb--and one little
boy--are all awake (but not for
long!).
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| A
little about the book: |
At a family
gathering in Oregon, we were sitting
around the table eating breakfast.
“Who’s missing,” somebody asked.
“Who’s still asleep?”
Mim and
I caught the ball and ran, with help
from my sister Zori, my niece
Natalie, and our cousin Edna. And that's how Who’s Awake
in Springtime? got
its start.
Mim and I
created a “dummy,” an illustrated
mock-up for the book. Then Christy
Ottaviano, my wonderful editor at
Holt, pushed and pulled the
manuscript into shape. It took a
long time to find just the right
artist. Fortunately, before Mim
passed away in the fall of 2007, she
got to see Emily Chollat's sketches.
Mim was especially fond of the
sheep! And David Gershator wrote a
sweet song to go with book-- the
concluding song on our CD: This Is the
Day! Storysongs and Singalongs.
Bedtime
books have a special place in my
heart. When parent and child cuddle
up to read a picture book story
before bed, it’s the one reading
experience that can never, ever be
replicated any other way. Mim always
read great books to me as a child:
all the Little Golden Books, Alice
in Wonderland, Winnie the Pooh....
That's surely why I have such a
passion for reading to this day.
When
Christy chose to publish our
mother/daughter collaboration, Mim
and I were so excited, we continued
to work together on more picture
book stories. Working on them after
she passed made me feel my mother
was still here, looking over my
shoulder, still (and always) an
inspiration.
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| From
the reviews: |
From Booklist: This
rhyming, cumulative text about young
animals getting ready to sleep is
patterned after The Little Red Hen....
"Who’s asleep? ‘Not I,’ says the
minnow.’" The turtles, ducklings,
bees, cats, birds, and caterpillars
respond likewise....The pop-eyed
cartoon faces are appealing, while the
clever compositions add a
“look-and-find” element. A playful and
inviting bedtime tale.
Preschool-Grade2. ––Julie Cummins
From School Library Journal:
In this cumulative tale, baby
animals stay awake as their grown-ups
go down for the evening. As the
question “Who’s asleep?” is asked of
the creatures in the sea, pond,
meadow, garden, and treetop, baby
animals everywhere answer, “Not I!” A
child dressed in a sheep costume
frolics through the panels featuring
snoozing fish, sleeping ducks,
dreaming turtles, napping birds,
snoring bees, curled-up cats, and
caterpillars in silken beds. Once the
boy gets to the pasture, it’s party
time as the sheep all jump and play
until they drop. The boy’s mother
asks, “Is anyone awake?” Eventually
the little lamb boy climbs into bed
for his nap, just like all of the
other baby animals. Chollat’s playful
and detailed illustrations will have
readers taking a closer look to see if
they can spot the boy in each spread.
The repeated refrain of “Not I” is
perfect for read-alouds and will
surely encourage those listening to
chime in. Pair this whimsical story
with Claire Freedman’s Snuggle
Up, Sleepy Ones (Good Bks.,
2005) or Julie Markes’s Shhhhh!
Everybody’s Sleeping
(HarperCollins, 2005) for a soothing
storytime.––Stacy Dillon, LREI, New
York City
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