The Napping House

The Napping House

Wood, A. (1984). The napping house. Orlando: Harcourt Brace and Company.

Genre: Children’s Fiction

Age Level: 5-7

Summary:  The Napping House is a children’s picture book with notable achievements such as being a 1984 American Library Association Notable Book for Children, a 1984 New York Times Best Illustrated Children’s Book, and the winner of the 1984 Golden Kite Award from the Society of Children’s Book Writers. This book has a progressive plot that introduces more characters on every page. As the title suggests, the house is full of sleeping individuals. Each character is described in a manner of tiredness (snoring grandma, dozing dog) until the last character, who could be portrayed as the antagonist, is introduced.  This character, in turn, brings an end to every ones’ peaceful night’s rest.

Reflection:  This book would be great for young children who are learning to read because it uses elements of repetition. The words repeated most are the adjectives describing the characters which are all related to napping.  As the story progresses, the dark illustrations set the mood that the reader would expect to find in a napping house but also shows where conflict is possible adding a dog, cat, and mouse in the same bed. The illustrations are excellent in this picture book.  The artistic media of choice was oil on pressed board. As the characters begin to wake, the changing colors suggest a changing mood in the house to where eventually it’s no longer a napping house.