Abstract
Reviewed by: Awake by Mags DeRoma Elizabeth Bush DeRoma, Mags Awake; written and illus. by Mags DeRoma. Roaring Brook, 2021 [40p] Trade ed. ISBN 9781250753199 $18.99 Reviewed from digital galleys R 4-6 yrs Bedtime rituals from toothbrushing to book reading to goodnight snuggles are complete, and the narrator and her dog Oscar are ready to settle down. However, there’s a third set of eyes in the room, and there’s not going to be any sleep until the girl [End Page 53] evicts the unwelcome spider from her room. She concocts several outlandish plans for pest removal: sending it flying off on a paper airplane, lassoing it, launching it to the moon on a homemade rocket, or even, as Oscar suggests by pushing a book of nursery rhymes to her, washing it down the water spout outside her window. She settles on the time-honored method of trapping it under a glass and realizes the eight-legged creature isn’t nearly as scary as she thought; the closing scenes of an overturned glass, a spider nestled into its outdoor web, drowsy narrator and dog, and a blackout as the lamp clicks off assure viewers that everyone will sleep happily tonight. The plot is wispy, but the impossibility of nodding off with a creepy-crawly in the room strikes a virtually universal chord. It’s the artwork, though, that carries the story—“paint and soft pastels on a gazillion pieces of cut paper, all collaged together” convey the eeriness of the nighttime prowler that keeps getting bigger in the little girl’s imagination, while humorously spotlighting her inflated fear and planned overkill of the fragile little arachnid that just wants to get back to its web. An addendum demonstrates how to trap a spider with glass and cardboard, plus courage and a kind heart. Copyright © 2021 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois
Published Version
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