I Will Take a Nap! by Mo Willems

 

I Will Take a Nap!

Bibliography

Willems, Mo. 2015.  I Will Take a Nap! New York, NY: Hyperion Books for Children. ISBN:9781484716304

Plot Summary

A very grumpy Elephant wants to take a nap and lays down to get settled.  Piggie comes by to see what's happening, angering Elephant since he was woken up. Elephant's grumpiness spreads to Piggie, and Elephant suggests Piggie take a nap, too.  This works until Piggie starts snoring very loudly and wakes Elephant up again.  It's not until the end that we realize Elephant has been napping the whole time, and the entire tale of sleep interruptions was a dream.

Critical Analysis

This book uses exaggerated emotions and humor to address nap-taking, which is something that children often do not want to do.  There is a clear conflict within the story, which is Elephant's difficulty in falling asleep.  The conflict is resolved with humor at the end of the book when we realize elephant has dreamed up the whole story, which is evident by the fact he is flying and turns Piggie's head into a turnip. 

The illustrations are simple yet effective, and really tell more of the story than the text does.  The clever use of background color distinguishes between Elephants awakened and dreaming states;  the awake background is white, while the dream background is green.  It's possible that children might miss this detail, which adds to greater surprise at the end.  The use of exaggerated text size and facial expressions do a fantastic job of conveying emotions of Elephant and Piggie.  The more frustrated the characters get, the bigger the speech bubble.  Text size is also used to show the volume of Piggie's snoring.  One thing that is shown in the pictures but is not in the text is how flattered Elephant feels when he sees that Piggy's stuffed animal is an elephant like him.

Review Excerpts

Horn Book Guide says "beginning readers will enjoy the narrative tricks" on April 1, 2016.

Amy Nolan for School Library Journal stated on July 1, 2015 that "Willems delivers another exemplary entry for beginning readers."

Connections

I think this book would be a great tool to use to get children to take a nap.  It uses whimsy and humor to show the benefits of sleep in feeling less grumpy.  There are 25 total books in Mo Willems' Elephant and Piggie collection, such as We Are in a Book! (ISBN 978-1423133087) and There is a Bird on Your Head! (ISBN 9781423106869).  Another book about naps that readers may enjoy is No More Naps!: A Story for When You're Wide-awake and Definitely not Tired, by Chris Grabenstein (ISBN 9781524771294).