I Dare You Not to Yawn by Hélène Boudreau (review)

"There you are, minding your own business, building the tallest block tower in the history of the universe or dressing up the cat when suddenly . . . a yawn pops out. Next thing you know, you're being sent upstairs to get your pj's on!" Boudreau connects the dots for youngsters between an irrepressible yawn and a swift and sudden bedtime, elaborating on the difficulties of avoiding yawns when one is exposed to them: "Yawns are like colds. They spread!" The joke is that her book, by its very nature, will have kids yawning right and left as they follow the narrator in his attempts to hold back his yawns, covering his eyes, running (sweating bullets) from yawn-inducing objects, and desperately clamping his hands across his mutinous mouth. The closing page, in which the young narrator appears happily and sleepily ensconced in his cozy bed, implies that bedtime may be just what was needed after all. Boudreau's text is droll in its straight faced admonitions to the audience to stay strong in the face of yawns from every side, and kids who dread bedtime will easily relate to our young hero's dilemma. Bloch's lively illustrations, hand-drawn in ink and colored digitally, have the humorous, cartoonish verve of Jules Feiffer, and the ginger-haired, big-headed young narrator is amusing in his futile attempts to suppress the traitorous yawns. Muted blues and pinks and lots of clean white space provide a peaceful background to the bolder touches of golden orange and vivid scarlet that accent the action. This would make a surprisingly effective introduction to a primary-grade science lesson on yawning or a good bedtime book for encouraging somnolence (if parents can get through it without succumbing to slumber themselves).