Review Detail

As a parent, I have experienced a rambunctious child wide awake and wanting to play in the middle of the night so Sleeping Is Not for Me! resonated with me.

The story is of a little elephant who lives in the savannah with his dad and does not want to sleep at night. The daddy elephant tries to sing his little elephant to sleep, but it doesn't work. Instead, the little elephant gives examples of animals he wants to be like such as a galloping zebra or a laughing hyena. Each time the daddy elephant tries to sing him to sleep. Eventually, the little elephant falls asleep only to be woken up by all the animals he woke up when he was being loud. Now it's the little elephant's turn to get the animals to sleep and he learned the perfect way from his dad.

What I Liked: The sweet relationship between father and child sets it apart from other bedtime stories. When it came to getting his child to sleep, the dad had an infinite amount of patience. Balancing the sweet is some silly moments of the little elephant imitating various animals. I think this was where the illustration stood out.

What Left Me Wanting More: My son read this to me and struggled with the names of the elephants. In his mind, Littlephant and Daddyphant looked too close to Little Elephant and Daddy Elephant and so that is what he ended up calling them. I would have liked to see a more distinct name for them.

This is a sweet story that parents will find very relatable.