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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 now
(one will be published in 2012) makes me feel my mother is still here,
looking over my shoulder, and
still 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.
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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