"It's TWO more sleeps 'til Christmas!
Why can't this day be done?!
If I can get just one more sleep,
then we'll be down to 1!"
What? After opening daily advent calendar windows and doors, those very excited little ones have only FIVE more sleeps until Christmas day. What wonder there is in the countdown to such a thrilling time!
As old as I am, I cannot remember the countdown with clarity. But, through the eyes of my grandchildren I have been experiencing it once again. This is the first year (they are 6 and 4) that the excitement has really been building with new books every day, crafts, baking, and counting down each day with great delight. Despite the restrictions of the pandemic, there is no lack of anticipation.
Jimmy Fallon has written a book that builds on that anticipation. Endpapers show a young, bespectacled boy pacing back and forth across the spread. Pajama-clad, with floppy socks, he keeps his head down while waiting it out ... the last five sleeps!
In first-person voice, he speaks directly to the excited children who will be hearing this book for the first time. He does his best to keep up with his chores and stay on Santa's good side. He counts sheep to help with taming the joy he is feeling as the days tick down. Preparations have all been made. All that remains is to put his on the pillow each night and get to sleep. As soon as he succumbs to slumber, something magical happens.
Christmas Day is celebrated with joy - and an announcement.
"Only 364 more sleeps
'til next year!"
A bright color palette and highly expressive artwork is inviting for young readers and brings them right inside the impatient leadup to that final brilliant day. Pages are filled with Yuletide details, and the rhyming text provide a book well-suited to be read aloud on each of the five nights leading up to the 25th. Fun for all!
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