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While You Were Napping
In this hilarious read-aloud featuring robots, fire trucks, and pirates, meet an older sister who’s more than happy to fill her little brother in on all he missed while he was napping. Since none of the other neighborhood kids had to nap, they came over. Then came the robots, and of course the astronauts. It was tons of fun . . . and luckily for the boy (right?!), he slept through it all!
Here’s a picture book that is sure to ring true in every family with more than one child. With minimal text and raucous illustrations, this laugh-out-loud, spot-on picture book is also a perfect portrait of a mischievous kid at her imaginative best.
Here’s a picture book that is sure to ring true in every family with more than one child. With minimal text and raucous illustrations, this laugh-out-loud, spot-on picture book is also a perfect portrait of a mischievous kid at her imaginative best.
40 pages, Library Binding
First published February 1, 2012
About the author
Jenny Offill
19 books1,818 followersJenny Offill is an American author born in Massachusetts. Her first novel Last Things was published in 1999 was a New York Times Notable book and a finalist for the L.A Times First Book Award.
She is also the co-editor with Elissa Schappell of two anthologies of essays and the author of several children's books She teaches in the MFA programs at Brooklyn College, Columbia University and Queens University.
She is also the co-editor with Elissa Schappell of two anthologies of essays and the author of several children's books She teaches in the MFA programs at Brooklyn College, Columbia University and Queens University.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 65 reviews
December 11, 2014
An older sister tells her brother all the amazing things that the neighborhood kids did while he was taking a nap including a party, bulldozing the neighborhood, setting off fireworks, and pirates showing up as well as astronauts.
The illustrations are done in an exaggerated and cartoon style. The bodies are out of proportion and wavy taking away from the appeal.
The story also does not end in a way that makes you think the sister made this all up as a story for her brother. Instead it comes off as a mean nanny nanny boo boo kind of story. She is boasting of all the things she got to do that brother had to miss out on. I would have liked to see a very different ending especially one that doesn't have the sister saying they ended the day running around in their underwear screaming.
I would not call this a bedtime story. If anything, I think it would discourage the taking of naps. It is advertized for grades preschool-3. I see it as being more appropriate for ages above first grade.
The illustrations are done in an exaggerated and cartoon style. The bodies are out of proportion and wavy taking away from the appeal.
The story also does not end in a way that makes you think the sister made this all up as a story for her brother. Instead it comes off as a mean nanny nanny boo boo kind of story. She is boasting of all the things she got to do that brother had to miss out on. I would have liked to see a very different ending especially one that doesn't have the sister saying they ended the day running around in their underwear screaming.
I would not call this a bedtime story. If anything, I think it would discourage the taking of naps. It is advertized for grades preschool-3. I see it as being more appropriate for ages above first grade.
April 28, 2016
This book tried too hard to emulate the "big sister, little brother" stereotype, and came across as a negative relationship. The language was playful, creative, and fun to read, but the illustrations and the story itself were unsettling. An older sister tells her younger brother about everything that happened while he was napping. The younger brother was young enough to still have a daily nap time, while the older sister was not, and she made up lies to make her brother jealous of her getting to stay awake.
I would not recommend this book because older siblings may read it and think it is okay to do the same thing to their younger siblings. It was a fun book to read, but the illustrations were borderline chilling and the message of the book was not appropriate for young readers.
I would not recommend this book because older siblings may read it and think it is okay to do the same thing to their younger siblings. It was a fun book to read, but the illustrations were borderline chilling and the message of the book was not appropriate for young readers.
September 27, 2020
Wow, strong dislike for the storyline - sister lies to brother about all that goes on while he is forced to nap. Strong dislike for the illustrations - they give me the creeps.
Definitely a miss for the team of Jenny Offill & Barry Blitt (illustrator).
Definitely a miss for the team of Jenny Offill & Barry Blitt (illustrator).
July 29, 2016
Outrageously teasing tall-tale!
October 9, 2023
Because some of us have FOMO, sometimes others in our lives know what’s best for us and sometimes it takes a little story, a little guidance, even a little white lie to get us to to rest, go the Dr., eat correctly, watch our weight, etc, and we need a “big sister” to take care of us!
I enjoyed this cute children’s book.
4.5 stars rounded up.
~Marty 🚴
I enjoyed this cute children’s book.
4.5 stars rounded up.
~Marty 🚴
October 3, 2014
God DAMN, Jenny Offill - will you ever stop writing books that I like, each more than the last??
This is the coolest. You never want to take a nap and we know YOU know that nothing particular is going to happen while you're down, but you still protest. So here's an outlandish story about what totally happened while you were sleeping.
This is the coolest. You never want to take a nap and we know YOU know that nothing particular is going to happen while you're down, but you still protest. So here's an outlandish story about what totally happened while you were sleeping.
April 3, 2023
Premise: after his nap, the main character's siblings tell him about all of the adventures he'd missed out on while he was asleep. As a parent, I found their fabricated story funny, but the story is told so seriously that young readers probably won't pick up on the fact that the kids are lying. To them, it probably sounds like a fever dream- construction workers letting kids operate heavy machinery in the backyard, robots bringing cotton candy to the party, and kids setting off rockets in the backyard. It's pretty chaotic but it does speak to a lot of activities that kids would be into.
January 11, 2020
Good idea, but a parent might want to look at it before the child.
January 11, 2020
Good idea, but a parent might want to look at it before the child.
March 24, 2020
While this is a very entertaining tale with wonderful artwork, I don't know that I would read this to a child who is nap-averse.
Spoiler, in the end, it's just an older sister being a bit mean. hah!
Spoiler, in the end, it's just an older sister being a bit mean. hah!
January 10, 2017
Liked the story but thought the illustrations were a bit odd. Very "Flapjack."
September 24, 2016
Stream-of-consciousness (dreamlike?) account of activities that is fun for all its ridiculousness. It doesn't seem that the bragging sister is modeling the bragging so much as letting us listen in on all the reckless things the children packed into nap time...
The construction workers were the first to come.Haa! The illustration style might be too edgy for younger children or parents who want "cute" for their kids, but it lends itself to the nature of activities the children engage in.
They were bored with building, they said,
and so they asked all of us kids
to take over their bulldozers for them. Or...After lunch, it was time for the fireworks.
There were barrels and barrels of them.
And even the littlest babies got to set them off
(as long as they were careful).
February 12, 2015
The story begins in the recent past, as a big sister "consoles" her younger brother, who was forced to take a nap by their mother (despite his actively tearful, then sulky protest - clearly depicted in the illustrations). She tells him he may have been justified in his protest, because in spite of Mom's assurance that "You won't miss a thing, I promise," every other kid in the neighborhood bore witness to a great many wonders that afternoon ("even the littlest babies," she later elaborates). It starts with sky writing advising the kids: "Coming soon! Big fun! Stay awake!" From driving construction equipment to setting off fireworks (sans supervision) and interviewing astronauts "about zero gravity and how they pee without taking off their suits," the boy's sister outlines every last bit of fun he missed during his nap. "Luckily, you slept right through" the screams of all the neighborhood kids running around their yard, she tells him at the end. The children's faces in the book's watercolor illustrations clearly show their emotion - usually delight or mischief, except in the case of the unfortunate napping brother. An exaggerated sense of scale with all the "big fun" that visits the neighborhood seems to suggest that maybe Big Sister is making it all up. This book will definitely appeal to young readers (ages 4-8) with siblings - especially those with younger siblings, as they will appreciate being "in" on the joke. This would make a wonderful read-aloud for a classroom or library story time - or a terrific bedtime book for kids whose younger siblings have already gone to bed.
July 24, 2017
Ahhh...the things we miss out on when we take a nap. Wonderful story, but be sure to take your time on the delightful illustrations.
January 28, 2016
While You Were Napping tells a story of a little boy whose mother is making him take a nap. The story is told in first person by the little boys sister. While he was napping, all the kids in the neighborhood were outside playing together. They got to play with the construction workers and their bulldozers. Robots, firemen and pirates also came to play. The illustrations in the book go well with the story. One problem I found with this book is most kids already have trouble taking a nap. This story talks about all the fun things the other kids got to do while the one boy was napping. This wouldn't be a good book to read to a child as a bedtime story.
The story was told in the perspective of a young girl, so the text goes along with that. Its very simple and a lot of the words and sentences are phrased to sound like a younger person is talking. This creates a good quality because it will allow the young readers to understand what's happening in the story without having to think too hard. The illustrations are very descriptive. There is a lot of detail to create a different scenery on each page. A lot of the book is colored in green, since the majority of the story takes place outside. The book had a good ratio of the amount of words on each page to the details of the picture. It creates enough time for the reader to read the story without losing the attention of the child.
The story was told in the perspective of a young girl, so the text goes along with that. Its very simple and a lot of the words and sentences are phrased to sound like a younger person is talking. This creates a good quality because it will allow the young readers to understand what's happening in the story without having to think too hard. The illustrations are very descriptive. There is a lot of detail to create a different scenery on each page. A lot of the book is colored in green, since the majority of the story takes place outside. The book had a good ratio of the amount of words on each page to the details of the picture. It creates enough time for the reader to read the story without losing the attention of the child.
April 29, 2016
This story is about a boy and his sister. She tries to tell him to go take a nap because nothing interesting will happen. This idea then shifts. Shen the begins to tell him all the fun things the neighbors and her did while he is sleeping during his nap. They threw a party had had pirates, robots, firefighters, and etc. But, this all happened while the boy was asleep.
The illustrations contained cartoon children with oddly proportion in size. The pages were filled with pictures but had a good amount of room available for the text.
I did not like this book. I felt that this book was too chaotic for young readers and even myself. If I were to read this in front of of a class, I feel like it would be a long read becasue each page is filled with illustrations and there is too much stimuli in each page. Also, the sister character is a petty character. The author tried to portray her as funny but as a reader, she seemed rude. For parents, this might discourage their children from wanting to take naps and is counterintuitive to read them a story and have them complain that they will miss out if they are sleeping. I would not want to read this to children for these reason. Overall, I would give this book 3 stars.
The illustrations contained cartoon children with oddly proportion in size. The pages were filled with pictures but had a good amount of room available for the text.
I did not like this book. I felt that this book was too chaotic for young readers and even myself. If I were to read this in front of of a class, I feel like it would be a long read becasue each page is filled with illustrations and there is too much stimuli in each page. Also, the sister character is a petty character. The author tried to portray her as funny but as a reader, she seemed rude. For parents, this might discourage their children from wanting to take naps and is counterintuitive to read them a story and have them complain that they will miss out if they are sleeping. I would not want to read this to children for these reason. Overall, I would give this book 3 stars.
April 28, 2016
In this story, a little boy has to take a nap. While he takes his nap, all of the kids in the neighborhood get to do all kinds of crazy stuff like driving fire trucks. The little boy's older sister takes the initiative to let her brother know what went on while he was taking his nap. She tells hims that there was all kinds of robots and some astronauts showed up. She brags to him that she was there for the whole thing. It is a typical older sibling thing that the author demonstrates for their audience to relate to. In the end of the story she tells him that he should have been there.
The colors within this book are very dull and light colored. Watercolors and pencil are used to create the images within the book. There a few times when the text in in the picture itself. Other than those few times, the text can either be on the top or bottom of the page. This book would be great for readers that are in the third to fifth grade. All of the characters in the story see to be static characters. They are the same from start to finish. The overall tone of this book is very happy and excited for the readers. As young readers, they are able to relate to something like this. It is every child's dream for all the events that happened in the book to happen to them.
The colors within this book are very dull and light colored. Watercolors and pencil are used to create the images within the book. There a few times when the text in in the picture itself. Other than those few times, the text can either be on the top or bottom of the page. This book would be great for readers that are in the third to fifth grade. All of the characters in the story see to be static characters. They are the same from start to finish. The overall tone of this book is very happy and excited for the readers. As young readers, they are able to relate to something like this. It is every child's dream for all the events that happened in the book to happen to them.
May 2, 2016
What happens while you nap? For the little boy that was napping in this story, he missed on quite the adventure. This is the story of a little boy who ended up missing a great adventure that his mean, older sister took. Why? Simple: because he was napping.
This novel is full of hysterical adventures, such as dealing with pirates or going to outerspace. Both of the characters in this book were pretty static because they did not change throughout the book and stayed as the mean older sister and the grumpy little brother who was not pleased at hearing that he missed on his sisters great adventure. This novel is appropriate for kids in preschool up to 3rd grade becauase a child's imagination is uncontrollable and uncontainable, and this book did not show limits on showing just how "out of this world" their imagination can be.
This novel is full of hysterical adventures, such as dealing with pirates or going to outerspace. Both of the characters in this book were pretty static because they did not change throughout the book and stayed as the mean older sister and the grumpy little brother who was not pleased at hearing that he missed on his sisters great adventure. This novel is appropriate for kids in preschool up to 3rd grade becauase a child's imagination is uncontrollable and uncontainable, and this book did not show limits on showing just how "out of this world" their imagination can be.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 20, 2014
Read this book if you want to understand why children become so upset about being put to bed. After all, you never know what you might miss. In this tall tale reeled out by the sleeping child's sibling, he missed quite a lot, including bulldozers, robots, and pirates. There's even a visit from astronauts and a fire. My favorite illustration has to be the one with the children all wearing peg legs, party favors provided by the pirates. The pen-and-ink and watercolor illustrations show a very unhappy boy and quite a lot of mayhem taking place while he sleeps. Perfect for sharing with others, this picture book will prompt plenty of smiles and some empathy for that sleeping child who missed out on everything cool.
December 27, 2014
The expertly rendered ink and watercolor illustrations, and the teasing tone of the sister's While You Were Napping tales, make a perfect match. Children with refined visual literacy skills will notice all of the adventures big sister relays to her napping little brother are concocted from the toys in his bedroom. The naughty antics the children perform in her stories include babies setting off firecrackers too close to Dad's lawn chair, resulting in an exciting visit from the fire company. Written with glee, this title will ignite the imagination of the audience, inspiring them to come up with their own over the top adventures.
May 16, 2014
In WHILE YOU WERE NAPPING a boy's worst fears are confirmed when he wakes to discover that, while he was napping, the rest of the neighborhood kids were off on grand adventures. Dinosaur bones have been discovered, fireworks set off, pirates have invaded and nearly made everyone walk the plank (but settled for handing out peg-leg party favors), astronauts took everyone on a trip into space to try out zero-gravity, and more! While it may be best to avoid this one before the naptime (for fear of inciting rebellion!), Jenny Offill's newest offering is sure to entertain readers young and old.
January 5, 2015
I had high hopes for this one, based on a split-second judgment of the cover. Usually I'm not so far off with judging a book by its cover. The color scheme (very trendy, yet soothing) and the word "Napping" are the only gentle things in this book.
It's basically an older sister telling outrageous lies (not bad if you're a fan of Tall Tales) to her little brother who is young enough to be forced into napping. It's condescending and belittling and mean.
Daughter and I both decided that it's definitely a pass, and will not be reading it again.
It's basically an older sister telling outrageous lies (not bad if you're a fan of Tall Tales) to her little brother who is young enough to be forced into napping. It's condescending and belittling and mean.
Daughter and I both decided that it's definitely a pass, and will not be reading it again.
December 11, 2014
Ms. Offill creates a completely believable interaction between a older and younger siblings in this hilarious tale. What child isn't afraid that they will miss out on all the fun if they take a nap. Big sister does her best to make sure that her little brother will never want to take a nap again in this story. Excellent story about familial relationships using humor as a vehicle to tell the story.
February 23, 2016
So I bet this stuff happens in town or in Boston when kids nap, but not up here on the mountain. Up here when I take a nap I think a lot of bears and mooses and mice and stuff come out. I know that MICE come out because we caught one and took him to Morrisville.
So maybe stuff like this happens there. I don't know. But I don't think it does around here.
It was still a good one. Those kids had lots of fun while that poor kid slept.
Sometimes dreams are better though, so who knows?
So maybe stuff like this happens there. I don't know. But I don't think it does around here.
It was still a good one. Those kids had lots of fun while that poor kid slept.
Sometimes dreams are better though, so who knows?
September 29, 2014
This is probably every child's worst fear - taking a nap and while asleep all of your wildest dreams come true. This probably isn't the best choice for any literal-minded children as you may end up with a strike on naps. Save it for one-on-one readings with those that have the wildest of imaginations.
February 26, 2015
I didn't know whether to give this a three or a four star review. I decided on four because my kids did want this read several times. I loved the smug little narrator, but I did not care for art. It reminded me of political cartoons. However, the look on the little boy's face at the end of the story is priceless.
September 13, 2016
No one asked us to stop drinking the ketchup...
Hahaha...Jenny Offill is hysterical and I make a special effort to read her work.
I'm just glad my kids are grown. With their worst fears confirmed, the party starts when you fall asleep, they would have redoubled their efforts to resist THE NAP.
April 29, 2016
The illustrations are puzzling, the story is adventurous but mocking. I felt so bad for the little one who feels awful for missing all the fun due to a nap. After all, that's the biggest worry of all little ones come nap time.
November 4, 2014
The super-exaggerated illustration style is Not My Cup of Tea, but the deliciously obnoxious narration is hilarious and spot-on. Sure to provoke giggles from anyone who is or who has an older sibling.
October 7, 2014
This book is a lot of fun (perhaps more for the adults reading it than for the kids) and full of sarcasm. That might be a tough concept for kids to grasp, but that would then inspire lots of dialog between grown-up and child. The story is fun, especially for a 1-on-1 setting.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 65 reviews