Synopses & Reviews
For everyone who loves nonsense verse, a book worth staying up for! Even a Queen sometimes has trouble getting a good night's sleep -- especially when her mattress is either too hard or too soft. And when the Queen is unhappy, you can bet she makes the King and the citizens of Trouble miserable, too. While the King tries one absurd thing after another in hopes of finding a suitable bed for his hard-to-please Queen -- from the gardener's wheelbarrow to an enormous wicker basket (not too wide, but to too narrow) -- nothing works to solve the problem, not even his Mister Tickle Dream Machine. Finally, a young servant girl, Isabella Abnormella Pinkerton McPugh, steps forth to say what SHE would do: "Queen Angeline might well prefer a bed that's cool and wavy, Like bubble baths or like the seas that float the Royal Navy..." And voila! Thanks to Isabella, the Queen's insomnia is cured once and for all with the invention of -- the Queen-sized waterbed! Flamboyant and funny collages capture all the humor of this rollicking verse by J. Patrick Lewis, whose tongue-in-cheek nonsense has the appeal of the best of Edward Lear and Ogden Nash.
Review
The illustrations make the town-kingdom of Trouble into a fascinating world.... this would work both as an antic daytime pleasure and an offbeat bedtime windup. (The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books)
Review
Here's a variation on the princess and the pea. The queen f the town of Trouble can't sleep because no bed is quite right, till spunky Isabella Abnormella invents a soothing waterbed. The collage-and-oil-paint illustrations are particularly clever. (New York Times Book Review)
Review
A rollicking good read for children 3-8. (Tampa Tribune Times)
Review
Brooker's dynamic collage art almost skips off the page and Lewis's rhyming verse tickles the tongue. (San-Diego Union Tribune)
Synopsis
Even a queen sometimes has trouble getting a good night's sleep, especially when her mattress is either too hard or too soft. Flamboyant and funny collages capture the humor of this rollicking verse by Lewis, whose tongue-in-cheek nonsense has the appeal of the best of Edward Lear and Ogden Nash. Full-color illustrations.
About the Author
J. Patrick Lewis has been called "a master of poetic forms" by School Library Journal. He is the author of countless amusing picture books, including Riddle-icious. In a starred review, the Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books said, "Some books try to make language fun; this one knows it already is and invites the readers to share in the revel." While in theory he finds the idea of sleeping on bubbles fascinating, the one time he actually slept on a water bed he got seasick! He lives in Chagrin Falls, Ohio. Kyrsten Brooker was selected a Publishers Weekly Flying Start for her illustrations in Nothing Ever Happens on 90th Street by Roni Schotter, which The New York Times praised, saying, "Brooker uses collages so adroitly and with such brio that you feel like reaching in and putting an arm around each of these elegantly drawn characters." She sleeps on a creaky but comfortable queen-sized bed that her dog, Sash, is kind enough to let her up on occasionally. Ms. Brooker lives in Edmonton, Canada.