Book Review: Picture book Forty Winks
Written by Nancy Allen
Illustrations by Diane Brown
Generally, picture books for kids have one of two primary purposes:
to entertain or to inform. While these two ideas don’t begin to cover all the
variations in picture books, virtually all picture books articulate these two
qualities in some proportion.
Virtually all children’s books have a moral or help the child
reader understand good choices. The best children’s books both teach and
entertain. In Forty Winks, Nancy
Brown offers what seems, on the face of it, a bedtime story to entertain young
readers. Joey has trouble getting to sleep. Although he tries some methods to
bring on sleep, his imagination keeps him from becoming drowsy. That is until
he meets Sir Nod, a book-loving monster living in his closet.
Sir Nod shows Joey his “magical book.” “Read it,” Sir Nod
says, “ and you can travel anywhere,” then immediately falls asleep. Joey takes
the book and reads a story about a pirate adventure, but is soon fast asleep,
dreaming about pirates.
Joey wants to keep the book, but Sir Nod cries that it is
his only book. Nod tells Joey he can read his own books, but Joey complains
that his books aren’t magical. Sir Nod replies, “The magic happens when you
read a book.” Joey and Sir Nod settle their disagreement about using the book
and come to a mutual, and sleep-inducing, solution.
As is common with picture books published by 4RV Publishing,
the book contains an appendix with discussion questions and extra “fun facts.”
Here, Nancy Allen continued her mix of entertainment and information.
Diane Brown’s illustration nicely captured Joey’s adventures
on a pirate ship, traveling through space, and more. These illustrations will
trigger the imagination of young readers just as well as the story does.
This book may help a child go to sleep, but even better, it
encourages children to experience the magic of books. I applaud any book that
encourages children to read, whether or not it helps them sleep.
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