Jake Stays Awake

Jake Stays Awake
Written & Illustrated by Michael Wright
Feiwel and Friends, 2007
32 pages
Picture Book

            Have you ever been woken up by your child climbing into bed with you?  Where you can never fall back asleep?  And no matter how many places you try to sleep with all three of you it just doesn't seem to work?  In this story, Jake can't seem to fall asleep unless it's in his parents’ bed. But then his parents think long and hard and come up with this great plan.  Will the plan work?  You'll never know unless you read Jake Stays Awake.

            When I discovered this book, I thought it would be a great book for parents who are struggling to get their children to sleep in their own beds.  I am glad I picked this book up because I can read it to my children when they start acting like Jake.

            Michael Wright used animation for this story.  He did a great job at creating such lifelike features in this book.  Many of the illustrations were double-spread, with very few being single. The text was spread throughout most of the illustrations.

            I would use this book at story time and have my students retell the story back to me, by using different props that represented each place Jake and his parents slept.  For example, having pictures of Jake's parents bed, the roof, and so on glued to a Popsicle stick.  Then I would also use it as a math lesson and have my students count all the random places they tried to sleep on.  Finally, I would have my students write their own stories and tell me where all they would like to sleep at with their parents if they were having a hard time sleeping alone.  I would also allow them to draw pictures to go along with it to be an art activity.