Wide Awake Jake

by Rachel Elliot, Karen Sapp (Illustrator)

Children will love reading along with this delightful story about a little boy named Jake who can't sleep - and parents will identify with Jake's frustrated mom and dad! Little readers will love the imaginative story and bright pictures, and this tale is perfect to help children get ready for their own bedtime. Ideal for children just learning to read.

Genres: Childrens, Picture Books

22 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 2007

Reviews

[Amanda Kearney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wide Awake Jake is about a boy who could not sleep. He tried several different strategies but none worked. So he would go downstairs and ask his mom and dad what to do. They would recommend something to him, and he would go back upstairs to try and sleep. Nothing worked until his mom finally came and tucked him in. After that, Jake fell right to sleep.
This would be a great book to read to my class if we were learning about adjectives, onomatopeias, or how to make text-to-self connections. Every time Jake walks up and down the stairs, the text uses different words to describe the sound that the steps are making. The students could also make a text-to-self connection about how they had trouble sleeping one night.

[Bryan Mark · Rating 1 out of 5]

Pretty terrible book that we certainly won’t be reading again. The story portrays Jake’s Father as apathetic and uncaring with his Mother the only one interested in helping him fall asleep.

Total garbage.

[TJ & AJ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jake tries imitating several different animals in order to fall asleep. Great bedtime story. A big hit with TJ, who's always pretending to be something other than a little boy.

[Kelly Chester · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great book

[Denise · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute and relatable as the kids I read it to were supposed to be napping. 🤣

[Mx. Andy Feje · Rating 5 out of 5]

One sweet book 👍

[Little Champs]

2330

[Ali Robinson]

Wide Awake Jake by Rachel Elliot tells the story of a little boy who has a hard time falling asleep. To help him go to bed, his mother encourages him to pretend to be an animal (such as a bird, a mouse, and a bear). Each time, he ends up becoming scared and has to go back downstairs to his mom. It isn't until his mom tucks him in that he's finally able to calm down and fall asleep.
I thought this book was cute, but I definitely think it should be reserved for younger elementary students. Kindergarten and first grade would probably enjoy reading this book more than second or third grade and up. I thought the illustrations were well done, and the book included a lot of different onomatopoeias that young children will enjoy hearing.
A fun way to incorporate an activity with this book would be to let children act out the animals as we read the book. I think it could be a fun way for students to learn more about the animals, and I also think they would enjoy having the chance to get up from where they're sitting in order to pretend to be the animals that we read about.