Everyone's Awake

by Colin Meloy, Shawn Harris (Illustrator)

Overview

A silly and sublime bedtime book from the New York Times bestselling children's book author Colin Meloy.

Giggle your way to sweet and silly dreams! A simple goodnight routine turns marvelously madcap in this cleverly rhymed picture book. Instead of settling down to sleep, Dad bakes bread, Mom fixes the roof, and Grandma plays cards with a ghost. And between the dog, the cat, Sister, and Brother, there's at least three different wars being waged! A modern classic perfect for read-aloud fun and bedtime alike.

• A wildly fun read-aloud book for families
• A laugh-out-loud book perfect for any child who struggles with getting ready for bed
• Written by the lead singer of the Decemberists, the silly and clever rhymes make Everyone's Awake fun for both parent and child.

Fans of Goodnight Already and Dinosaur vs Bedtime will find Everyone's Awake to be a perfect path to a good night's sleep.

• Children's books for kids ages 5-8
• Family read-aloud oboks
• Books for bedtime

Colin Meloy is the lead singer and songwriter of The Decemberists, and the author of several children's books, including the New York Times bestselling Wildwood series. He lives in Portland, Oregon.

Shawn Harris is an artist and musician who lives in California's Mojave Desert. He is the illustrator of several award-winning children's books including Her Right Foot and What Can a Citizen Do?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781452178059
Publisher:	Chronicle Books LLC
Publication date:	03/03/2020
Pages:	48
Sales rank:	466,566
Product dimensions:	9.20(w) x 11.00(h) x 0.60(d)
Lexile:	610L (what's this?)
Age Range:	5 - 8 Years

About the Author

Colin Meloy is the lead singer and songwriter of The Decemberists, and the author of several children's books, including the New York Times bestselling Wildwood series. He lives in Portland, Oregon.

Shawn Harris is an artist and musician who lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. He is the illustrator of several award-winning children's books including Her Right Foot and What Can a Citizen Do?

Editorial Reviews

The exuberant nighttime household chaos, well conveyed in Harris's witty, sloppy style with thick strokes of saturated blues and blazing orange, will make many a sleep-deprived parent laugh between shouts of "Settle down!"

The New York Times Book Review - Maria Russo

12/09/2019

Harris (What Can a Citizen Do?) opens this comic romp with a nighttime view of a dark, brooding structure—half haunted mansion, half lighthouse. A page turn sets the lights ablaze as the child narrator discovers that, rather than sleeping, “everyone’s awake.” Things start quietly (“Grandma’s at her needlework./ Dad is baking bread”) but soon escalate: “The dog’s into the eggnog:/ Mom’s tap dancing to Prince/ while Dad is on the laptop/ buying ten-yard bolts of chintz.” Bold, silk-screen-esque forms coalesce into tapestries of gleeful chaos for the multiethnic family. Mom clutches the eggnog punch bowl with one arm and a vinyl record with the other; pajama-clad Dad lies belly-down with his laptop. The siblings aren’t shy, either: “My brother’s now reciting/ every line from Condorman/ while my sister is trapezing/ from the kitchen ceiling fan.” Gothic mystery creeps in, too, as a ghostly shipwreck outside produces “long-dead/ Grandpa Paul” for a game of whist. Manic though it may be, the family’s live-and-let-live attitude toward its members’ rule-breaking peculiarities makes this rip-roaring romp by Meloy (The Whiz Mob and the Grenadine Kid) defiantly wholesome. Ages 5–8. Agent: Steven Malk, Writers House. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

"[Everyone's Awake is r]ecommended for youngsters (and their grownups) who come from or enjoy observing a family with more quirks than every cast member of a Wes Anderson movie combined."-School Library Journal

 

"Pictures are packed with details, including clever allusions to other picture books and chapter books for young readers. . . . [A] crowd-pleasing underwear joke [is] sure to crack up anyone. . . . Recommended for youngsters (and their grownups) who come from or enjoy observing a family with more quirks than every cast member of a Wes Anderson movie combined." -School Library Journal

"[A] comic romp. . . . Manic though it may be, the family's live-and-let-live attitude toward its members' rule-breaking peculiarities makes this rip-roaring romp by Meloy defiantly wholesome."—Publisher's Weekly

"An energetic, insomniac romp of an anti-bedtime book. [A] rollicking read-aloud. Don't sleep on this one."—Kirkus Reviews

"Meloy's musical text, always bouncing forward in Seussian rhythms, builds along with the action. It's an exercise in energetic absurdity, a busier, edgier, and more grounded take on Eric Carle's The Nonsense Show, with Harris' primary spot-colored illustrations capturing the intensity and charm. An enticing bedtime alternative."—Booklist

"[D]azzling. . . each new picture [is] more chaotic and eye-popping than the one before. . . . In every [spread], there's at least one frog to seek and find, a rare touch of calm amid the insomniac rowdiness of this rhyming tale for children ages 5-8"-The Wall Street Journal

"[A]n updated riff on the 1980s favorite 'The Napping House.'. . . The exuberant nighttime household chaos, well conveyed in Harris's witty, sloppy style with thick strokes of saturated blues and blazing orange, will make many a sleep-deprived parent laugh between shouts of 'Settle down!'"-The New York Times

"[With] rollicking rhymes . . . [and] exuberant page-filling illustrations (think Tomi Ungerer) . . . Meloy and Harris depict one family's anarchical bedtime routine within their lighthouse-esque domicile."-Horn Book Magazine

From the Publisher

02/01/2020

Gr 3–5—The plot of this picture book is summed up by the title. There is a large family living under one roof and they should be sleeping—but everyone is awake, including our young narrator. Written by Meloy, frontman of the band The Decemberists, the text frequently makes literary and pop culture references for adults to catch, like shout-outs to Prince and Baudelaire. Our narrator expresses quiet bewilderment at the antics of his siblings, parents, grandparents, and even the family pets. Illustrated by Harris, Dave Eggers's frequent collaborator, spreads start off delightfully simple but quickly grow more hectic as the family's insomniac activities intensify. Pictures are packed with details, inclusing clever allusions to other picture books and chapter books for young readers. The plot turns increasingly ridiculous, with brother and sister fighting an international war. However, the text ends with a crowd-pleasing underwear joke sure to crack up anyone, even those who might not follow the rest of the action. VERDICT Recommended for youngsters (and their grownups) who come from or enjoy observing a family with more quirks than every cast member of a Wes Anderson movie combined.—Chance Lee Joyner, Wilton Public and Gregg Free Library, NH

School Library Journal

2019-11-24
An energetic, insomniac romp of an anti-bedtime book.

A wakeful child narrator recounts the goings-on in a large, multiracial family's zany household long after everyone should be asleep. Rhyming verse with a singsong cadence details activities ranging from the mundane ("Grandma's at her needlework. / Dad is baking bread. / My brother's making laundry lists / of every book he's read") to the bizarre ("Now Mom just took an audience / with Queen Sigrid the Third. / My brother has just taught the cat a dozen dirty words"). It's a rollicking read-aloud, but inconsistent line breaks may cause some to slip up upon first reading. Pop-culture references pep things up and range from the stodgy (Sinatra, "Clementine") to the very contemporary (poke tattoos, the film Condorman), though the conceit drags on a bit too long. Throughout, Harris' illustrations have a retro feel that evokes, at turns, Tomie Ungerer and Maira Kalman, and they expand on the details of the text to ratchet up the humor and drama—building on the mention of a lake to depict the setting not as a mere house but an elaborate lighthouse. The conclusion shows the narrator descending the stairs to find everyone asleep at daybreak, a predictable, yet satisfying, end.

Don't sleep on this one. (Picture book. 3-7)

Kirkus Reviews