The Baby Who Stayed Awake Forever

by Sandra Salsbury

Overview

Big brothers or sisters who have a noisy new baby in the house will feel seen in this hilarious new book about the uncanny ability of babies to stay awake FOREVER—written by a mom who's been there.

They tried lullabies, they tried cuddles, they tried soothing words. But now it's 3 a.m. and the baby has achieved a new level of consciousness. Throwing binkies, climbing the crib . . . Is this baby going to stay awake forever?!? (Even the neighbor would like to know.)

Parents and siblings of new babies will share some BIG laughs together as they follow a VERY tired family trying to get just a few minutes of rest while their precious one jumps, pounds, yells, and even throws a 1 a.m. dance party.

It's the perfect baby shower gift for soon-to-be-big-siblings and their parents as they prepare for the new arrival.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780593805879
Publisher:	Random House Children's Books
Publication date:	03/11/2025
Pages:	40
Product dimensions:	8.70(w) x 11.10(h) x 0.40(d)
Lexile:	AD500L (what's this?)
Age Range:	3 - 7 Years

About the Author

SANDRA SALSBURY is the author and illustrator of Best Friend in the Whole World and Spreckle’s Snack Surprise. She was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she received a BFA and MFA in illustration from the Academy of Art University. Most days you can find her at home in Berkeley with her husband and daughter. The Baby Who Stayed Awake Forever was written using the Notes app at 2am, while huddled in the corner of a nursery.

Editorial Reviews

12/16/2024

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.)

Publishers Weekly

A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection

"Punchy, silly, and likely to be a favorite." —Kirkus

"Chilling. . . . Caretakers and new sibs will find plenty of comic comfort and validation in these pages." —Publishers Weekly

"Hand this picture book to all the bleary-eyed parents and older siblings of rambunctious babies who just don’t want to sleep . . . ever." —The Horn Book

"This is my favorite picture book of the year." —Book Riot podcast

From the Publisher

2024-11-23
This infant is too busy for sleep!

A baby lies in a crib, seemingly asleep. Readers turn the page to discover that the little one is actually wide awake and ready to chat, climb, dance, jump, yell—everything but sleep. Mama, Papa, and Sister are not amused and try various remedies to get the overactive tot to slumber. Mama and Sister give Baby a binky (she hurls it back), Papa cuddles Baby (an alert Baby starts exploring the inside of Papa’s nose), and the whole family gathers for a comforting hug after Baby tumbles out of her crib. But she has no intention of sleeping. When at last it seems as though Baby has tired herself out, it turns out to be another ruse, to the dismay of her exhausted family; as the sun starts to rise, Baby is still going strong. Salsbury’s energetic, ebullient prose makes liberal use of exclamation points and enormous font size for effect, paired with a comic book–style layout (which alternates between vignettes, panels, and full-page spreads) to engage wiggly readers who will see themselves reflected in Baby’s nonstop antics. Parents might bemoan the lack of a perfect solution, though the reality will be a familiar one. This tale’s a logical choice for active toddler storytimes and to share before bedtimes that get endlessly delayed. Mama is tan-skinned; other family members are lighter-skinned.

Punchy, silly, and likely to be a favorite.(Picture book. 3-5)

Kirkus Reviews