Nathaniel Willy, Scared Silly

by Judith Mathews, Fay Robinson, Alexi Natchev (Illustrator)

Nathaniel Willy is scared silly by a squeak in his door, so Gramma must put the farm animals in bed with him for company

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Animals, Humor

32 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 1994

Reviews

[Melki · Rating 3 out of 5]

Much silliness ensues when Gramma attempts to assuage Nathan Willy's nocturnal fears by bringing him various sleeping companions. Cute, but it gets the repetitiveness gets tedious pretty quickly. I liked the watercolor illustrations by Alexi Natchev.

[Olivia S · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. Didn't bother finishing this one; it got too repetitive for me after about 3 pages. One of those books about accumulating animals in the bed.

[Melanie Hetrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

A humorous rhyming story of young Nathaniel Willy who lives with his grandmother in a creaky old house. One night, after his grandmother had tucked him in, the door made an awful eeeeeeek!! sound. Nathaniel did not like that sound at all and cried out in fear. Gramma came running and tells him not to be silly. Would he feel better if she put the cat in bed with him? Nathaniel Willy is sure that will work. But when that door creaks loudly again Nathaniel Willy is once again too frightened to sleep. So Gramma brings in the dog. This goes on until the pig and cow are also in the bed with the dog, cat and Nathaniel Willy. And you'll never guess what happens. Yep, the bed breaks.

Finally Gramma has had enough. She goes and gets the village wise woman. The wise woman simply oils the door. Ta-da! Gramma takes all of the animals back out to the barn, then fixes Nathaniel Willy's bed and everyone finally is able to get some sleep!

[Janet · Rating 3 out of 5]

Even though this title was published in 1994 it is still very viable today. Many children are fearful when bedtime approaches and the little fella in this story hears a squeak and is fearful. His grandmother provides many animals of the live variety to comfort him, but nothing works. Alas, perhaps investigating the origin of the squeak will help. Fun read.

[Carolyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

A hilarious book about a boy who is afraid of the squeak in his door. His grandma tries to comfort him by bringing in all the animals from the shed, only to have the bed break. Thank goodness for the lady next door who comes and puts some oil on that squeak. Great rhythm and repetition!

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nathan's afraid to sleep at his Gramma's country house. Having a cat, dog, pig, and cow only ends up breaking the bed. The wise woman suggests fixing the door.

[Kay Kay · Rating 3 out of 5]

The kids love this one!

[lunarlibrarian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really fun :)

[Heather McNichols · Rating 4 out of 5]

my daughter loves this book!

[Terry]

Everyone can participate in reading this story about a boy and his grandmother on a very cold night.