Go to Sleep, Nicholas Joe

by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat, John Himmelman (Illustrator)

Nicholas Joe puts everyone in the world to bed--the ice cream man, the neighborhood bully, his own parents, and the King and Queen--because he does not want to go to sleep alone

32 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 1988

About the author

Marjorie Weinman Sharmat was an American children's writer. She wrote more than 130 books for children and teens and her books have been translated into several languages. They have won awards including Book of the Year by the Library of Congress or have become selections by the Literary Guild.
Perhaps Sharmat's most popular work features the child detective Nate the Great. He was inspired by and named after her father, who lived to see the first Nate book published. One story, Nate the Great Goes Undercover, was adapted as a made-for-TV movie that won the Los Angeles International Children's Film Festival Award. Sharmat's husband Mitchell Sharmat expanded Nate's storyline by creating Olivia Sharp, his cousin and fellow detective. Husband and wife wrote four Olivia Sharp books published 1989 to 1991. During the 1990s, their son Craig Sharmat (then in his thirties) wrote three Nate books with his mother. In the late 2010s, their other son Andrew Sharmat co-wrote the last two Nate books written while Marjorie Weinman Sharmat was alive. With Marjorie Weinman Sharmat's passing in 2019 Andrew has continued writing the series with Nate the Great and the Earth Day Robot (2021).
In the mid-1980s Sharmat wrote three books published in 1984 and 1985 under the pseudonym Wendy Andrews.
Sharmat also wrote the Sorority Sisters series, eight short novels published in 1986 and 1987. They are romantic fiction with a sense of humor. They are set in a California public high school (day school for ages 14 to 18, approximately).

Reviews

[Jennifer]

I cannot even tell you how often this book gets quoted by me (a nearly thirty year old woman) and my mother (a *mumble mumble* old woman). Usually the part about the teddy bears. Or not being able to sleep unless my pillow's fluffed.

Totally charming story about a boy putting the world to sleep one house at a time. One day I will be as cool as Nicholas Joe in his pajamas with the names of the fifty states on them. I will bring kings and queens glasses of warm milk and I will chase the bully down the street on my livestock printed sheets. It's gonna happen, guys, I can feel it.

[Emma M.]

The illustrations are typical for the time. The story is so cute and clever. It's really perfect for bedtime.