The Great Big Yawn by Margaret and Eleanor Clowater

This review first appeared on Reader Views Kids. Read the Reader Views Kids version here. 

A daughter and her father head to the zoo, but then, a great big yawn comes out of the little girl. Her yawn proves infectious as it hops from animal to animal throughout the zoo until it reaches her again. Then, it is time to leave the zoo and head to bed. A concluding and helpful list of questions to ask a young reader rounds out The Great Big Yawn by Margaret and Eleanor Clowater.

The Great Big Yawn features Rachel Shead’s charming illustrations. Animals from an ant to a cheetah, a fawn to a stork, and a bunny to a lion grace the book’s pages. This variety is welcome and will help a young reader feel confident in recognizing some animals and, quite likely, learn some new ones. While this zoo does not have barriers that are staples in most zoos, this lack allows readers to see the animals clearly and feel closer to them. The closing illustrations are additionally perfectly mood-setting for a bedtime story.

The rhyming nature and soothing cadence of The Great Big Yawn make it a perfect bedtime story for early readers. Furthermore, the book will likely make the reader—young or old—yawn and wind down for bed. However, when engagement is the goal more so than winding down, the list of questions at the back provides the ideal way to encourage deeper curiosity. Furthermore, there is a link for coloring pages. This is a fantastic idea as not only are the illustrations a great proportion for coloring pages but adding additional activities related to the book will promote further bonding with it.

As referenced earlier, this book is best for quite young readers due to its easy readability, clear illustrations, and natural rhymes. However, this does not mean its charms will be lost on older readers. In particular, the questions and coloring pages will allow further engagement with older children.

Overall, the team of authors Margaret and Eleanor Clowater and illustrator Rachel Shead have crafted The Great Big Yawn to be a charming picture book with the flexibility of being a bedtime story or a livelier experience for young readers.

The Great Big Yawn by Margaret and Eleanor Clowater, FriesenPress