Wake the Dead

by Monica A. Harris, Susan Estelle Kwas (-Illustrator)

"Be quiet, Henry! You're loud enough to wake the dead!"

Henry is having a loud day. When he plays, he's loud. When he walks, he's loud. When he talks, he's loud. Everything he does is loud. His mother, his father, even his sister warn him that he'll wake the dead. And wouldn't you know it . . . he does!

What follows is a mad-cap, pun-filled romp "sure to tickle your funny bone” as the rudely awakened zombies run amok through the town trying to find who is responsible for disturbing their peaceful rest.

If you guess that Henry is going to have a big mess on his hands, you'd be dead right!

Genres: Picture Books, Humor, Monsters, Childrens, Horror, Ghost Stories, Halloween

Hardcover

First published August 1, 2004

About the author

If you ask Monica Harris about her writing projects, you’ll get a variety of answers. She may be writing an educational guide for creative writing instructors (Dot-to-Dot Stories). She could be diving into the realm of nonfiction with critters furry, squishy, or slimy (My First Book of Animals, Tarantula, Walking Stick, Paper Wasp, Black Widow, Tick). She might even be weaving a picture book story together with dead people! (Wake the Dead)

Monica Harris is a Michigan author with 31 published books and more than 250 magazine publications. She has several years of experience in assessment writing for such states as Michigan, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, Oklahoma, and Idaho. Learn more about Monica at her website: www.monicaharrisbooks.com

Reviews

[Charity Humfleet · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was extremely creative. The main character Henry is told multiple times that if he doesn't quite down then he is likely to wake the dead as the saying goes. But he actually does. The dead rise from their graves and can't seem to get back to sleep so they explore the town. This book incorporates many puns about the topic of death such as, "The dead worked there fingers to the bone pushing up daises." I also enjoyed that the author incorporated jokes into the story for the adult reading the book such as, "The dead searched through city hall, but all they found were skeletons in the closet."

[Leigh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extremely funny story about a youngster who is so noisy, he literally wakes the dead! He then has to tire them out with games and a bedtime story. Plenty of amusing puns about death "dead tired" "they finished in a dead heat" and so on.

The story is funny but the illustrations are a bit weak. Still, I loved it and recommend it.

[Molly · Rating 5 out of 5]

A nice choice for Halloween or Dia de los Muertos, but certainly not reserved only for those days. This is a clever way to introduce children to the many sayings and puns we have in American English that have to do with death. Reading over this, I was amazed at the vast number of them!

[Kari Huddleston · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love how the author put in phrases throughout the book with the term dead in them it was very cute eapecially when the skeletons were doing the hokey-pokey and the song was written on their tombstones!

[Jussay · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very punny book.

[Kristiana Sfirlea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Deathly amusing.

[Katie Fitzgerald · Rating 3 out of 5]

Henry is so loud, his family warns him he will wake the dead - which he does! Using every idiomatic expression in the English language that involves death - dead ringer, dead in the water, playing dead, and so many more - Harris tells of Henry's adventures trying to put the dead back to sleep. After they visit the library, the beauty salon, the city hall (where they find skeletons in the closet!), and post office, Henry tries to calm them down by calming himself down, but the only thing that does the trick in the end is a bedtime story.

This book is not for the faint of heart. Kids with certain temperaments - like myself as a child - will likely have nightmares at the thought of corpses rising from the grave. For kids who think creepy stuff is all in good fun, though, this book is hilarious, and provides the best lesson I've seen on understanding those expressions we all hear and use, but which kids may not fully understand without explanation.

The illustrations, too, manage to mix the funny with the macabre, and made me laugh out loud at several points. The most amusing page was one where the dead bodies do the hokey pokey in and out of their own graves.

The central conflict of the book is a Henry versus the consequences of his actions, and I love that he solves the problem himself, teaching himself ways to be quiet and calm as he goes. It's not clear from the ending whether he learns his lesson or not, but that's not really the point. The cleverness of this story, and its sense of humor are the true selling points, and it's a great one to share with creepy-minded kids this Halloween.

[Allison DeMeo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Personal Reaction: Too funny! This book will definitely be a hit with children.

Purpose: Read aloud around Halloween time for 2-4th graders. I chose to read this to older students because the puns in this book might be too complicated for the younger students. "the dead looked in the library... the librarian said "shhh i expect it to be dead quiet in here" is an example of one of the puns used in this book. I think this book is great to start a lesson on puns or read in the middle of the lesson to see if the students can pick out the puns on each page. This not only is an entertaining book but it also has a great lesson behind it!

[Relyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't generally like silly books that are supposed to be slightly creepy. If you are going to creep me out - do it right - give me goosebumps. But, this one was fun. Maybe a little too punny for a grown ups taste, but it is sure to be a big hit with kids.

Classroom Connection
reading or writing lesson on puns
Halloween read aloud

[Courtney Bocci · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't normally count the books I read with/to my kids because it's kind of cheating to add a bunch of picture books, am I right? But this one is adorable and hilarious and oh, so punny. Read it, you won't be sorry!

[Meg Mims · Rating 4 out of 5]

Clever but not an easy book to read to kids in a classroom setting. More of an at home read, but you have to explain a lot of the puns.

[Cerys Harrison · Rating 4 out of 5]

Can't wait for Halloween to read this. Henry makes so much noise, he literally wakes the dead.

[Megan Richards · Rating 4 out of 5]

Creative story about a boy who is so loud that he literally woke the dead. I don't think I have ever read a picture book with this many puns. Good for any day, not just Halloween.

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is neat to use with idioms and idiom meanings.

[Whitney Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rather punny! I think it's best suited for an older audience, otherwise the puns are lost. Perhaps with first or second graders?

[Kristine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Idiom and pun-filled story

[Shari (Shira) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great picture book for teaching idioms. It has all the idioms about dying, kick the bucket, buy the farm, etc.

[Jeani · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty cute story even if you don't have the time/inclination to dive into each and every one of the puns included.

[Sonja · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was truly a drop-dead punny book.