"Somehow, one is apt to read in a makeshift attitude, just where it might seem inconvenient to do so."
George Eliot, Middlemarch
While I may think T is outgrowing board books, his desire for and immediate delight in Sleep, Cat, Sleep! proves me wrong. As soon as he saw the book peeking out beneath others in the package, he pulled it out, cracked it open, and started reading aloud to himself. When he finished, he read it over again. And then again later. And then to his dad. And then to me. He was insistent that Sleep, Cat, Sleep! be his bedtime story.
The premise is that the cat wants to sleep and that you, the reader, are disturbing him by letting light into the book. It's a legitimately funny exchange between the cat and the reader, breaking down that fourth wall in a style I always enjoy (recall Jack the Narrator in The Stinky Cheese Man). T laughs aloud at the story and is pleased with his own reading. The cat's appearance is adorable and amusing. Sleep, Cat, Sleep! is an all-around good time.
Sleep, Cat, Sleep!
By Antje Damm
Expected English publication by Prestel: March 2021
Originally published in German as Schlaf, Kater, schlaf!
A review copy was provided upon request for the purpose of an honest review.
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