Marc Just Couldn't Sleep: New Bedtime Tale

Marc Just Couldnt' Sleep
Gabriela Keselman
Illustrated by Noemí Villamuza
Kane/Miller Book Publishers
2004
Reviewer: Tarie

Marc Just Couldn't Sleep is a whimsical picture book for children ages 3 to 5. Marc can't fall asleep because he is worried and scared of just about everything. He is worried a giant mosquito will fly into his room and bite him. So his mom makes him a pair of mosquito-proof pajamas. He is also worried that the moon will melt and the world will go dark. His mom gives him a pair of glasses with glow in the dark lenses and writes the moon a letter warning it not to melt. But even after his mom shoos away monsters, witches, nightmares, and ghosts, Marc is still scared and can't fall asleep! The final solution to help Marc fall asleep warmly shows the love between mother and child.

Both the illustrations and the text of Marc Just Couldn't Sleep highlight an incredibly endearing and adorable little boy and the strong, patient, playful mother who would do anything for him. This story will deeply touch children's hearts and stir their imaginations. Reading Marc Just Couldn't Sleep can easily become a new favorite bedtime ritual for the family.

Marc Just Couldn't Sleep was originally published in Spain by Editorial Kókinos in 2001.
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Tarie is a reader, graduate student, editor, and English teacher in the Philippines. She blogs about literature for the young and young at heart at Into the Wardrobe.