4. The Napping House by Audrey Wood

Bibliographic Citation:

Wood, Audrey. The Napping House. Illustrated by Don Wood. Boston, MA: Red Wagon Books, 2000. 16 p. ISBN 978-0152026325

Awards/Selection Lists:

ALA Notable Children's Book
Booklist Editor's Choice
California Young Reader Medal
Golden Kite Award
New York Times Book Review Best Illustrated Book of the Year

Format Examined:

Board Book

Annotation: 
On a rainy day, a boy, a dog, a cat, a mouse, and a flea all take a nap on top of a snoring granny until the flea sets off a chain of reactions after biting the mouse.

Personal Reaction:
Illustrations of soft shades of blue combined with the rain falling outside the house lulls the listener into a state of relaxation as the story begins, "There is a house, a napping house, where everyone is sleeping". The tone of the story is lyrical and repeats the same refrain at the end of each phrase, "...in a napping house, where everyone is sleeping". The story continues to build until each of the sleepy characters: a granny, a child, a a dog, a cat, a mouse, and a flea are all stacked, slumbering one on top of the other in the "cozy" bed. That is, until the flea bites the mouse; the mouse scares the cat; the cat claws the dog; the dog thumps the child; the child bumps the granny; and the granny breaks the bed. The story is simple, yet inviting to toddlers and preschoolers, as they can see what might be coming as soon as the flea takes his place on the top of the heap.    

Age Recommendation:

I would recommend this book for children ages 18 months-3 years of age.

Themes/Issues:

Sleeping, rain, repetition, prediction

Early Literacy Skill Value:

Letter Knowledge:
There is no direct focus on letter knowledge in this book.

Narrative Skills:
The repetition of the lyrical lines of text invites children to take part in telling the story as the lines become familiar and the story predictable.  

Phonological Awareness:
Rhyming words offer children the opportunity to match like sounds throughout the story.

Print Awareness:
The text is printed in simple font and repeats each line as the story is counted down. This provides the experience of matching text lines from page to page, and the awareness that the printed words on the page say the same thing in the matching lines.

Print Motivation:
The sweet text of the story, soft colors, rhyming text, and repeating lines make this book an enjoyable book for young children, especially at bedtime.

Vocabulary:

Repeated words offer exposure to new words, such as "dosing", "slumbering" and "snoozing".

Author/ Illustrator Website:
Author, Audrey Wood's and Illustrator, Don Wood's website: http://www.audreywoodauthor.com/