Proving that parents will do just about anything for a longer evening and/or better night’s sleep, The Rabbit Who Wants To Fall Asleep has become a bestseller. In fact, it has become the first self-published book ever to reach number 1 on the Amazon charts. I am actually amazed at this fact, and can only put it down to the first sentence above… parents just want their kids to sleep.
I’m liking
Golly. It’s a hard ask, to describe what I like about this book. It is the most bizarre piece of children’s literature I’ve ever come across. Rather than talk about what I like, I’ll talk about how it worked (or didn’t, as the case may be).
My almost four year old half-winces when I suggest this book now, so boring is the text. The first time he let me read more than a few pages, he *was* yawning and looking awfully sleepy. However, he got so bored he stopped concentrating on the text altogether so started fidgeting and looking around for distractions to get me to move on from the book. No sleep was actually achieved despite following the book’s instructions.
The second time he let me read through almost the entire story, but didn’t even produce the yawns, He just kept commenting on how strange the book was. And the fact you have to insert the child’s name was interesting to him… “why am I in the book, mama??” I don’t know son, and to be perfectly honest, I hope you never find yourself in the sort of situation presented by this creepy text…
Things that made me go hmmmm
Part hypnosis, the title employs a dark (almost hallucinogenic) set of images and accompanying storyline. The images are amateur, frightening and few and far between. They are interlaced amongst a lot of text which is boring and poorly translated from the original, so that sentences barely make sense and are often laboured and the ‘powerful psychological techniques for relaxation’ (yawning, emphasising words, calm voice) make reading the text quite a taxing experience.
The cast of characters is just so odd. I’m not sure why, even given the intent of the book, it needed to be so obscure. But there you go.
The conclusion
By all means, give it a go in your house. It didn’t work in mine, and no one wants to pick it off the shelf at bedtime, despite all its promises – “the story works perfectly for either naptime or bedtime’. Nope.
The Rabbit Who Wants to Fall Asleep is published by Ladybird Books with an RRP of $24.00.
