FICTION

Sleepy Stories

by Mario Levrero (text) & illus. by Mario Diego Bianki
Elsewhere Eds/Archipelago/. Jul. 2021. 32p. Tr $22. ISBN 9781939810847.
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PreS-K–Nicolas loves to listen to stories, but his father is very, very sleepy—far too sleepy to tell a story. But when Nicolas insists, his father weaves five tall tales that fall somewhere between the waking world and dream land. Nicolas fights to keep his father awake as he imagines a sleepy man who curls up in an umbrella during a downpour, or another who stretches himself across town, limb by limb, until his exhausted body is entirely in his bed. Written in a format that mimics social media storytelling, Levrero captures the feeling of an exhausted parent attempting to appease a beloved, very imaginative child. Bianki’s art gives the story a dreamy, otherworldly quality that is as charmingly and deliberately chaotic as the story itself.
VERDICT A wholly relatable story for parents who must read “just one more,” and a solid first purchase for story hours.
Reviewed by ­Erica Deb, Matawan Aberdeen P.L., NJ , Aug 01, 2021

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