I Can’t Sleep

Taking the classic bedtime tale of a child who can’t sleep, readers meet Magnus. His big brother, Kasper, agrees to let him sleep in his bed – and so begins the adventure! The inevitable questions and talking, despite warnings, begin and the boys consider all manners of possible beds and the potential benefits or otherwise of these unlikely places to lie down. Indeed, it may well be that just thinking of their own ‘alternative beds’ will be enough to ensure some small readers are already lulled safely back off to sleep. Not in Magnus’s case! He continues to ask his brother question after question until, eventually, it is his brother left asking the questions and Magnus has finally questioned himself to sleep!

This is a lovely, gentle tale of brotherly love and of finding friendship and safety when something unsettles you in the night. A common theme for so many families, there will always be space for one more title on this theme – though undeniably it does share many parallels with previous texts on the topic. 

What does assist this text in standing apart from the others, is the lovely watercolour illustrations which accompany each idea the brothers dream up. With a fluid and immersive style, the illustrations very much reflect the feeling of sleep or entering the world of dreams: soft, smudged at the edges and using a simple and limited colour palette. The illustrations alone will be set to stay in the mind of young readers long after they have, hopefully, fallen asleep!