Review Detail

WHEN I WAKE UP tells the story of a young boy who wakes up before his parents, when the world is still dark. He knows that he is not supposed to get up until 7am, but he thinks about all the things he could do if he gets up now, such as eat a bunch of marshmallows, ride a scooter down the alley and climb a tree, or work in his mother's garden. Each scenario is told a sentence at a time, through color-coded images, with all 4 imagined on each page spread.

What I loved: This is an imaginative story of thinking through decisions and the consequences of those decisions, as the child thinks about what would happen if he eats too many marshmallows or falls on the tree and scrapes a knee. Ultimately, he decides to climb into bed with his parents and get back to sleep. The illustrations capture each statement well, and the colors delineate each possible storyline, which is an interesting touch.

What left me wanting more: The book requires a few readings to really figure out and follow the different storylines, since they are all told in parallel. Even as an adult, it took me a while to follow each of them and figure out how they were separated. This may work better when read one color at a time. I was also troubled by the possibility of some of the scenarios, which could be dangerous for young readers (leaving the house during the night, climbing trees alone when no one knows where you are, etc.). I was also troubled by the eating marshmallows in the closet (which the child says their parents do), which seems to indicate disordered eating patterns.

Final verdict: A story of possibility, WHEN I WAKE UP explores decision making in an intriguing picture book format.