JAKE STAYS AWAKE

Co-sleeping taken to the extreme is the topic of this debut. Jake refuses to go to sleep without his parents. All well and good when he was small, but he now appears to be about five years old, and takes up quite a large amount of space in his parents’ bed. “We love you, dear Jake, / but we can’t even doze. / How can we sleep / with your toes / up our nose?” In desperation for a good night’s sleep, they agree to sleep with Jake, just not in their bed. The trio then begins the search for a comfy spot. The roof is too steep, the stairs too hard, and they all get stuck in the bathtub. Place after place is just plain wrong . . . until Jake thinks of a place he hadn’t considered before—his own bed. The habit broken, the author reassures his audience that sleeping together is all right once in a while, just not every night. Wright’s illustrations hysterically expand upon the text. The characters’ small eyes and elongated heads make for very droll facial expressions, while hidden details and the family dog’s antics will keep readers in stitches. Co-sleeping parents who want to reclaim their territory may want to take notes. (Picture book. 3-7)