I Dare You Not to Yawn - Hardcover

Helene Boudreau is a native of Canada and has had several popular books for children published there. She lives in Markham, Ontario, Canada. Visit her website at www.heleneboudreau.com or tweet @helenboudreau Serge Bloch is one of the most prolific and talented French illustrators working today. He has won the Gold Medal from the Society of Illustrators, the Bologna Ragazzi award, and the Best Book Award in Taiwan. A native of France, Serge Bloch now divides his time between New York and Paris, where he is Artistic Director of the children's publishing house Bayard Jeunesse. Visit his website at www.sergebloch.net

“Yawns are like colds. They spread!” And you don’t want to catch one. If you do, your parents will have you jammied-up and shipped off to bed in no time flat. So when the cat or your big sister starts to yawn, there’s only one thing to do: “LOOK AWAY!” This picture book, which speaks directly to the audience as an instructional guide of sorts, teaches kids how to avoid the pitfalls of being sent to bed prematurely. Boudreau and Bloch work seamlessly here to deliver the funny; at one point, when the boy has been tucked in and the lights have been turned off, his wide, white eyes beam out from the pitch blackness and the text reads, “How did I get here?” Bloch’s signature ink-and-digitally colored illustrations pop on white backgrounds on some pages, while others involve patterned backgrounds and dramatic full-page, mouth-open-wide shots. With lots of yawning sound effects, share this read-aloud at bedtime (although kids will probably be too busy laughing to you-know-what). Preschool-Grade 2. --Ann Kelley