Anyone who has a big sister -- or who's been one -- will recognize the truth and humor in this book that plays to little-kids' fear that all the best stuff happens while they're asleep. Big-sis relates to her brother all the things he missed by taking a nap: skywriting ("Coming Soon! Big Fun! Stay Awake!"), bulldozer-driving, dinosaur fossils in the yard, robots delivering cotton candy and French-fry sandwiches, fireworks ("even the littlest babies got to set them off"), pirates, space travel, and more. The yarn she spins, while it would appeal to most any kid, is based on specific items in her brother's room -- dinosaur model, toy truck, pirate book, robot -- adding insult to injury. Offill's conversational text gets that teasing big-sisterly tone just right. Blitt has done New Yorker covers, and his illustrations here combine child-centered nonsense imagery with some wicked humor that adults can appreciate. The caricatures of the children, for example, with their giant heads and huge foreheads, their Howdy-Doody haircuts or Betsy-Wetsy fixed stares, hark back to a time when the neighborhood kids played outside until dinnertime -- but this book's fun-time activities are definitely more Jackass than Dick and Jane. elissa gershowitz (c) Copyright 2014. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Starred Review. A mother promises her remonstrating, wriggling son that he won't miss a thing while he's napping. But if his older sister is to be believed, the Best Party Ever took place right outside his window. COMING SOON! BIG FUN! STAY AWAKE! announces a skywriter, followed by robots, pirates, firemen, the uncovering of a dinosaur skeleton, and an apparent daylong moratorium on Don'ts, which meant kids could drive bulldozers, throw mud, drink ketchup, race in their underpants, and shoot off fireworks. We all took pictures to prove to you how dangerous it was since you were the only kid napping when it happened, writes Offill (Sparky), whose channeling of sibling snark is a thing of beauty. Blitt (George Washington's Birthday: A Mostly True Tale) mischievously and masterfully choreographs the neverending festivities, which teeter between backyard reality and thwarted, dreamy desire. His watercolors will reward close-reading visual joke connoisseurs, as well as those who can't wait to find out what that poor kid (he could be any of us, really) misses out on next. Ages 4--8. Author's agent: Sally Wofford-Girand, Union Literary. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

It's bad enough for tiny humans. For the proud young animals of the savanna, the concept of nap time is downright insulting. "Naps are for little babies," according to a strapping crocodile; the giraffe declares herself "too tall," the monkey "too busy." De Moüy, who fills her bold, black-outlined gouache illustrations with great character, cleverly turns the tables on her readers, introducing a little girl - a former reluctant napper herself? - who outwits the beasts with the old "just close one eye" trick. A BED FOR KITTY Written and illustrated by Yasmine Surovec. 31 pp. Roaring Brook. $16.99. (Picture book; ages 2 to 5) With comic-style art in an offbeat palette heavy on shades of olive and peach, Surovec plays for laughs the mysterious phenomenon of chüdren who will sleep anywhere but in their own beds. Little Chloe gives her pet a new cat bed for a present, but Kitty prefers to snooze in Dad's old slippers, the sock drawer, even the sink. The solution will ring true to many a parent currently nursing a sore neck: It turns out Kitty's fine with the bed as long as Chloe's squeezed into it, too. GOODNIGHT ALREADY! By Jory John. Illustrated by Benji Davies. 32 pp. Harper/ HarperCollins. $17.99. (Picture book; ages 2 to 6) An exhausted bear on the way to bed - "I could sleep for weeks. Months, even!" - must fend off the incursions of his chatty, bored, coffee-drinking duck friend in this witty take on trouble in the sleep department. Davies's spot-on illustrations are both whimsical and tender, adding a feeling of intimacy to John's humor: Bear's got baggy eyes, rumpled fur and a purple mini-kimono; Duck is the essence of neediness disguised as jauntiness as he gesticulates wildly with fingerlike wings. MAX AND THE WON'T GO TO BED SHOW By Mark Sperring. Illustrated by Sarah Warburton. 32 pp. Scholastic. $16.99. (Picture book; ages 3 to 7) With his floppy black hair, adorable crescent-moon pajamas and wide-open eyes, Max, "the world's youngest magician," is perfectly cast in the charm-your-way-out-of-bedtime show. Warburton's exuberant illustrations are a good match for Sperring's lively, David Shannonesque narration of Max's feats of sleep procrastination, such as "the great disappearing boy trick" and a daring request for "10 - yes, 10" bedtime stories. (Mom goes with two, we learn.) WHILE YOU WERE NAPPING By Jenny Off ill. Illustrated by Barry Blitt. 32 pp. Schwartz & Wade. $16.99. (Picture book; ages 4 to 8) The combination of Offill and Blitt - two brilliantly astringent, deadpan sensibilities - makes "While You Were Napping" a rare, mischievous treat that may make grown-ups laugh hardest. Faking sympathy, our narrator tells her younger brother, who's been forced into a nap, about the "giant party" he's missed. Every page brings a cruel new revelation: All the other kids drove bulldozers, hauled dirtballs, set off fireworks, hung out with pirates and zoomed to the moon with astronauts. ONLINE A slide show of this week's illustrated books at nytimes.com/books.

A wickedly naughty big sister recounts all the fun her brother misses while he's napping. The text's focus isn't on sibling rivalry, but this dynamic is unquestionably its seed. Kicked out of the nest by little brothers and sisters, elder children exact revenge in devious wayswho can forget Lilly's cribside antics in Kevin Henkes' Julius, the Baby of the World? In that title, Lilly is reformed and comes to love and protect her baby brother; no such resolution emerges in Offill's mischievous hands. The entire book is made up of the sister's descriptions of all the fun that she and the neighborhood children had while little brother was napping, and she regales (tortures?) him with tales of pirates, robots, bulldozers, dinosaur bones, french-fry sandwiches, fireworks and firefighters. Sparing not one grain of salt in the wound, wry text reads, "you were the only kid napping / when it happened." The appearance of astronauts ends the naptime orgy of exclusive fun. "Luckily, you slept right through it" is the concluding line, and it's accompanied by a picture depicting the boy scowling in bed and the sister perching at its foot. Toys and decorations bespeaking the boy's interest in all of the things she's described fill the bedroom, and it's a shame that earlier illustrations didn't include more of this real-world context. Beware the power of older siblings! (Picture book. 5-8) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

We can all agree that teasing is bad but sometimes it's just so much fun! A little girl torments her younger brother by relating to him all the cool stuff that happened after Mom made him take a nap. Maybe you were right to scream like you did, the sadistic sister remarks. You see, things went bonkers. A bunch of construction workers stopped by to let the neighborhood kids raze the block with their machines, whereupon they unearthed some awesome dinosaur bones. Then, you know, some robots came by offering cotton candy, and then, of course, there were fireworks even babies were allowed to set them off! Then there were fires and pirates and astronauts. I'm pretty sure you would have loved it, concludes the girl. Oh, the humanity! Offill must've had some sibling rivalry as a child, because she knows just how to dole out exquisite torture with an insidious, offhand tone. Blitt makes for the perfect coconspirator, contrasting the kids' almost-maniacal partying with the napping child's big-headed, about-to-blubber innocence. Simply brutal! And quite funny.--Kraus, Daniel Copyright 2014 Booklist

PreS-K-An older sister tells her brother about all the crazy things that she and the neighborhood kids supposedly did while he was taking a nap. Apparently inspired by the toys scattered in the boy's bedroom, she spins an outrageous tale of how they dug up yards with bulldozers, found a dinosaur skeleton, ate junk food brought by robots, set off fireworks, played with pirates and astronauts, and generally ran amok. This yarn is illustrated with Blitt's scrawly ink-and-pen watercolor pictures on full spreads and features a cast of oddly shaped children engaged in their various bizarre activities. Although the peculiar string of events may amuse some children, the story seems to lack focus and does not have much of a plot. An additional purchase.-Martha Simpson, Stratford Library Association, CT (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.