I received this book for free from the library in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Source: the library
The Insomniacs
by
Karina Wolf
in Hardcover edition that was published by G.P. Putnam's Books for Young Readers on August 16, 2012 and has 32 pages.
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Illustrator: Ben Hilts, Sean Hilts
A picture book that explores the nighttime and encourages the reader to think outside the box.
My Take
The graphics cracked me up as they made me think of the Addams Family with their darkness and the manner in which the Hilt Brothers created the figures with their white, white faces and black, black hair. That house and those bats only reinforced my impressions, lol.
Cute. I liked that can-do attitude of the Insomniacs as they try to find a way to sleep through the night and discover all the life that moves in the night.
Life-wise, it’s not very realistic and raises all sorts of questions on my part, but The Insomniacs is not about reality. It’s more of a poke to get children thinking outside the box. That the night too is full of life.
It’s a great opportunity for parents to talk about other assumptions they or the kids have. That having lots of money solves all one’s problems. That ignoring a problem makes it go away. That the same things are not important to everyone. Whatever you can discover about your own assumptions.
The Story
When Mrs. Insomniac gets a new job, the family moves twelve time zones away and simply cannot adapt to the change.
They try everything to fall asleep at night — take hot baths, count to one thousand, sip mugs of milk — but nothing helps.
Until they venture out into the dark and learn there is a whole world still awake and a beauty in their new and unconventional schedule.
The Characters
Mother, Mrs. Insomniac, has a new job. Father, Mr. Insomniac, is a photographer. Mika Insomniac is still at school.
The Cover and Title
I don’t normally pick up a book for it’s cover, but I would definitely make an exception for this one! It’s a misty, foggy night with a very pointy landscape below of mountains or trees and the slightly three-dimensional title hanging in mid-midnight sky with stars overhead, characters busily moving about and in and out: Father with a lantern coming out of the “O”, Mother perching on the second “N” with a telescope, and a pair, a young Mika and her bear, holding hands as they perch on the “C” and the “S”.
The title is the family with trouble sleeping, The Insomniacs.
