Twenty Yawns by Jane Smiley (review)

Little Lucy spends a long, lovely day on the beach with her parents, until everyone is tuckered out: “Lucy YAWNED. Mom YAWNED. Dad YAWNED. Mom said, ‘Early bedtime!’” After returning home, the trio gets ready for bed but, after another big yawn, Lucy notices that Mom has fallen asleep while reading aloud to Lucy, and Dad’s asleep in the living room. The moonlight stirs Lucy to get up and she goes in search of her stuffed bear, “but the other toys were looking at her, even Leonard, the baby kangaroo. They seemed lonely.” Lucy hauls them all off to bed with her and her yawn sets off a chain of yawns among both her stuffed animals and the family members featured in the drawings above her bed. With one final yawn, Lucy settles into sleep herself. Smiley crafts a thoughtful and cozy picture book with spare and peaceful text, and she’s particularly deft at capturing the perspective of a young child. There’s a crayon-like graininess to the art, and thick outlines and painted textures give Castillo’s inviting illustrations a robust framework; increasingly muted tones and softened details enhance the quiet atmosphere of the text. Lucy, a biracial girl with a dark-skinned mom and light-skinned dad, is a charmer with her tousled black curls and joyful smile. Pair this with Jan Ormerod’s wordless classic Moonlight (BCCB 11/82) for some soothingly somnolent bedtime reading, or with Sally Symes’ Yawn board book (BCCB 1/12) to maximize the yawns per page.