Rarest Kind of Best

The Napping House

text by Audrey Wood

illustrations by Don Wood

Age: 2+

Interests: grandparents, pets, napping

Harcourt: 1984

30 pp.

Also by this author: Piggies, Heckedy Peg, Quick as a Cricket, Silly Sally, King Bidgood’s in the Bathtub

Everyone is hunkered down for a nap at Granny’s house, all piled upon one another in her bed… until a pesky flea upsets everything.

In a rhythmic, repetitive “This is the House that Jack Built” style, the reader goes through all the sleepers in the house, until finally reaching the flea, who sets a reverse chain reaction to wake everyone up again. Children will enjoy chiming in on the repeating bits, and the dramatic reactions of the sleepers when they wake up will set them giggling. Of course since the story ends with everyone bouncing out of bed wide awake, this is not all that effective as a soothing bedtime story!

(this title available at amazon.com)