Oh, Are You Awake? by Bob Shea, Jarvis
Published by Candlewick Press ISBN: 1536226580
Format: Picture Book Fiction
Source: MSL Book Review
Goodreads

Sometimes even best friends don’t want the same thing at the same time. Bob Shea’s comical imagining of one of those moments brings us Penguin and  Lion at bedtime. Penguin is already sleepy but Lion is hoping for a story. Penguin’s dreams of candy, unicorn adventures and a puppy train are disrupted by Lion’s inventive actions (crunchy potato chips, “super quiet” trampoline) and exhortations, “Oh, are you awake?”. Will these friends reach an amicable resolution?

Shea tells the story as a dialog between the two characters, using black text for Penguin and blue for Lion. Color-coding the dialog makes the tension clear from the start, with no “Penguin said” and “Lion said” gumming up the works. The story is relatable to anyone who has ever been very much awake when the head story teller feels too sleepy to tell a story. 

The illustrations by Jarvis, especially those depicting the characters’ dreams, are delightful. The dream illustrations are also color-coded, vivid and detailed. In contrast,the waking images accompanying the dialog are simple, with few details. Both dream scenes and waking scenes offer rich facial expressions that take the accompanying text from funny to hilarious. The ending is satisfying for all. 

This will be a bedtime read-aloud hit and would be a lively storytime. Highly recommended for public and school library collections.