Shhhh: A Gentle Picture Book About Quiet Family Mornings for Kids

by Kevin Henkes

Someone just woke up. Quietly she moves around the house. Everyone else is still asleep. . . A perfect good morning for early risers who might enjoy a gentle picture book to cuddle around—or a sweet bedtime "shhhh." "A girl notes that the rest of the household is still asleep, from her stuffed animals and family pets to a baby sister in a crib and her parents. Reaching for her toy horn, she blasts them all awake—and is she punished? No, the final scene shows the loving family gathered together. How rewarding to watch an artist stretch, and achieve another perfect fit." — Publishers Weekly

Genres: Picture Books, Family, Childrens, Realistic Fiction, Juvenile

24 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1989

About the author

Kevin Henkes is an American writer and illustrator of children's books. As an illustrator he won the Caldecott Medal for Kitten's First Full Moon (2004). Two of his books were Newbery Medal Honor Books, Olive's Ocean in 2004 and The Year of Billy Miller in 2014. His picture book Waiting was named both a 2016 Caldecott Honor Book and a Geisel Honor Book. It was only the second time any author has won that combination of awards.

Reviews

[Jon Nakapalau · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful book about a little girl who gets up early in the morning before the rest of her family.

[Matthew Watrous · Rating 4 out of 5]

When you think of Kevin Henkes, usually you are thinking about his mouse books or Kitten's First Full Moon, which won the Caldecott gold. This jewel, is even skipped on his website's picture book list, https://kevinhenkes.com/picture-books/, but that doesn't mean it won't be fun for an adult or child. What happens when a child wakes up before their parents, dog, cat or the baby? You can probably guess but that won't spoil the fun found in this book.

The pictures are done with archaic paints on single page bleeds with a few words, mostly "Shhhh," to clue the reader in that other people are sleeping in the house. If you are a parent of toddlers you will feel right at home as the predictable story leads you to an exciting morning. Shhhh is a definite must read in our family which I like to pair with Goodnight Gorilla. It is a different Henkes, but it is still Henkes.

[Rakisha · Rating 5 out of 5]

The prolific Kevin Henkes wonderful Shhhh humorously captures life with a preschooler. First, the story starts out very quietly as a young child describes everthing and everyone who is asleep in her house. The assumption by the reader is that this youngster will also join everyone in their slumber. The assumption is wrong! The child can't stand the silence and awakens everyone by blowing a toy horn. It's a great anti-bedtime story.

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

I totally get why some ppl despise this. We do not need to encourage bad behavior. But I think that Henkes, who we know truly understands children, meant this to be amusing... and an opportunity for parents to show, in a pleasant way, how *not* to behave.

The illustrations are charming, but they're not typical Henkes, and that is the style I prefer. Otoh, these work better for this particular book.

I recommend you make up your own mind about this very short book.

[Katie Fitzgerald · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read at Baby/Toddler Story Time on 2/15/11:
http://storytimesecrets.blogspot.com/...

Read at Baby/Toddler Story Time on 2/28/12: http://storytimesecrets.blogspot.com/...

Read at Baby/Toddler Lap Time on 4/20/12: http://storytimesecrets.blogspot.com/...

[Rose Rosetree · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of life's mysteries is easy to discover. If not necessarily to understand.

The mystery happens when, as a toddler, you wake up before the grownups and start exploring on your own. For sure, this mystery was one of my strongest memories of being little.

* Why were the grownups still sleeping?
* Why weren't their minds quick and lively, like mine?
* Even though they knew grownup things, sometimes they just couldn't understand the important things. Lying there in bed, they looked so not like a kid, so heavy and OLD.
* What happened to them when they grew up? Why didn't they stay like children, like me?

This cute story, perfect for picture book readers, can prompt many of us into remember this kind of thing.

[Luisa Knight · Rating 2 out of 5]

When everyone in the house is sleeping except the toddler ... I'm sure you can guess what happens!

Ages: 3 - 6

**Like my reviews? I also have hundreds of detailed reports that I offer too. These reports give a complete break-down of everything in the book, so you'll know just how clean it is or isn't. I also have Clean Guides (downloadable PDFs) which enable you to clean up your book before reading it! Visit my website: The Book Radar.

[Carolyn Jeziorski · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Kevin Henkes, but this book is dull. The kids did enjoy when I yelled the page where the kid wakes everyone up. If you need a book with a repetitive pattern, this fits the bill. Otherwise, I think I’d rank this at the bottom of his work.

[Mely · Rating 3 out of 5]

there's not much to this book, so I can see why it's not too highly rated. However my little one enjoyed saying goodnight to everyone and then waking everyone up. cute book

[Kimberly · Rating 1 out of 5]

Uhhhhh nope. This child is a demon.

[Quincy Bashore · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is not a great book. No lesson/moral. Is repetitive for early readers, but there are better books.

[jacky · Rating 3 out of 5]

We've read a lot of Kevin Henkes lately, so I checked that section when looking for S titles. Natalie really liked this book and we read it almost every night for two weeks. I personally didn't really like the end where the girl wakes her whole family up. From the parent perspective, I was irked thinking that those poor parents have to get up and take care of everyone, especially the baby. But, if you imply that it was time to get up anyway, and not say, 5am, then its easier to deal with. Otherwise, it was a cute and simple book.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fairly cute little book. The illustrations were a little different from what I would have imagined coming from Kevin Henkes, but I still thought they were good. This book had a surprising, if not funny ending. I'd probably recommend.

*Taken from my book reviews blog: http://reviewsatmse.blogspot.com/2009...

[Josiah · Rating 1 out of 5]

I would give this book one and a half stars.
Shhhh is a well-conceived story that is delightfully evocative of the experience of waking up early on a weekend morning, as a kid. The thrust of the narrative is sleepy and pleasantly languorous, but also appreciably funny. I would think that any kid could enjoy this book.

[Olivia Bailey · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book is about sneaking around and waking up the parents. It would mostly be good for k or prek students. It can introduce them to mystery and have them brainstorming about what the little girl might do next.

[Kristin · Rating 3 out of 5]

simple and nice for young kids

[Shannon · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book wouldn't serve much of a purpose in my classroom, but I'd totally love to read this book with a wee person.

[Michael Fitzgerald · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not much to it.

[Jeani · Rating 4 out of 5]

Made me laugh out loud!

[nicole · Rating 3 out of 5]

i think this would be a great bedtime story... if it wasn't about waking up in the morning.