WHAT A BIG YAWN!

A yawn travels ’round the town.

Upon waking up, a brown-skinned child yawns, stretches, and kicks off a circular story that spans the whole city and an entire day. The yawn passes first to Mom and Dad, its force so mighty that they spill their coffee and drip jam off their toast. Then the family cat heads outside, stretches, and passes the yawn along to a dog on a walk with its elderly owner, who opens his mouth so wide, he loses his dentures. The yawn moves farther away from the child’s home into a nearby park where a girl yawns and swallows a fly and a skateboarding kiddo flips into a pond. As the yawn travels, its impact becomes more exaggerated. It forces a magician to reveal a whole flock of birds from a hat, two boxers to miss their punches, and a whole audience to yawn through their standing ovation at a ballet performance. At last, the yawn returns home to the child who originated it, and readers are surprised with another silly sound. Majewski’s painterly illustrations are a riot of bold colors. The design is excellent; vignettes are broken up by white space and full double-page spreads that youngsters will linger over, savoring every small detail. The eye-catching illustrations, paired with the classic circular storytelling style, make this the perfect addition to bedtime rotations. Characters vary in skin tone.

A read-aloud filled to the brim with delight and a contagious sense of glee.