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As young children gain independence,
they often contest bedtimes that parents set. Requests for another drink,
another kiss, or another story may become a bedtime ritual. Most children
settle down within 20 or 30 minutes. Some actively fight going to bed,
however, and may take two to three hours to fall asleep.
Jimmy Jonny Brownie is among the latter: he puts his pajamas on backwards,
plays with the toothpaste, and hides at bedtime. One day he begs his
frustrated parents to let him stay up all night. To his surprise, they
agree. This book chronicles that night.
At first, all goes well: Jimmy Jonny stays in the living room looking
at books while his parents read. Then his parents go to sleep. It's
10 p.m., two hours past his bedtime. In short order, Jimmy Jonny sets
up a domino maze for his hedgehog in his bedroom and, when it escapes,
chases it around his room, scattering toys everywhere. Looking at the
clock, Jimmy Jonny discovers it's only 10:15 p.m. The whole night lies
ahead. He pulls the covers and sheets off his bed to make a tent and
sets up a pretend campfire. That's the last we hear of him until morning.
Parents and children understandably may assume Jimmy Jonny fell asleep.
The author, however, suggests otherwise by reporting that Jimmy Jonny
can't stay awake the next day. He falls asleep at meals, while playing
with a friend, even sitting in his backyard wading pool. The list goes
on and on. The message becomes preachy: "After that night, Jimmy Jonny
decided that maybe going to bed wasn't such a hard thing after all."
A child's discovery that there's a connection between night time sleep
and next day alertness is a developmental milestone. While stories may
help get this message across, this one is so heavy-handed that it's
hard to imagine a child will ask to hear it again and again.
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