Even Monsters Need to Sleep

by Lisa Wheeler, Chris Van Dusen (Illustrator)

Overview

Even Monsters Need to Sleep by acclaimed author-illustrator team Lisa Wheeler and Chris Van Dusen puts a fresh and humorous spin on the classic bedtime story. Perfect for readers who enjoy How Do Dinosaurs Say Good Night? and other subversive bedtime tales.

What do you do before you go to bed at night?

Bigfoot hugs his wooby extra tight, while aliens have pillow fights.

Nessie gets a drink, then swims down deep.

But in the end, everybody needs to sleep . . . even monsters!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062366405
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	03/14/2017
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	9.40(w) x 12.20(h) x 0.40(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Lisa Wheeler is the author of Someone Builds the Dream, illustrated by New York Times bestselling artist Loren Long, as well as other popular and award-winning picture books, including Even Monsters Need to Sleep, Mammoths on the Move, One Dark Night, and the Dino-Sports series. She lives near Detroit, Michigan. You can visit her online at lisawheelerbooks.com.

 

Chris Van Dusen is the author/illustrator of many picture books, including A Camping Spree with Mr. Magee, If I Built a Car, and The Circus Ship. He also illustrated the popular Mercy Watson series written by Kate DiCamillo. He lives with his family in Maine. You can visit him online at www.chrisvandusen.com.

Editorial Reviews

A worthy addition to the large canon of monster bedtime books.” — Booklist

From the Publisher

A worthy addition to the large canon of monster bedtime books.

Booklist

A worthy addition to the large canon of monster bedtime books.

Booklist

2016-12-26
Rhyming text and detailed, fantastic art invite readers to follow along with little monster's bedtime reading.The bedtime routine begins on wraparound jacket art that shows a little blue monster clad in a pink nightgown running away to the right on the front cover from her father, who pursues her from the back cover. In the frontmatter pages she first runs away toward the page turn on the title page and then is dragged, crying, into the book proper from the recto dedication page. The first page of the book proper shows her now calm and cuddled up in bed with her dad reading a book. Ensuing pages appear to be from the book they're reading as they depict a series of fantastic creatures heading off to bed. The verse is usually written as three rhyming lines, with a fourth line breaking the rhyme and reading "Even Bigfoot needs to sleep" but substituting the word "Bigfoot" with "dragons" or "bridge trolls" or "giants" and so on. The gouache illustrations employ a saturated, vivid palette that isn't at all restful in busy compositions filled with detail (three-legged ET's in union suits; Frankenstein's playful kitten). But moments like the spare, wordless final page or the spreads depicting a Yeti and a giant help give rest for the eyes. Even if it doesn't send kids straight off to dreamland, it will keep them looking; snuggled close with a grown-up, that's not all bad. (Picture book. 2-5)

Kirkus Reviews