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Ben Over Night

by Sarah Ellis

Governor General’s Award-winning Vancouver author and Q&Q contributing editor Sarah Ellis follows up her charming Big Ben with Ben Over Night. The youngest member of a family of five, Ben wants to sleep over at his best friend Peter’s house, but each attempt ends in tears. Ben’s parents and older brother make sensitive suggestions to no avail. It is not till his older sister, Robin, subtly reminds him how quickly he could return home (across the street), if needed, that he conquers his fear.

In this likeable book, Kim LaFave’s bold and dynamic illustrations are a perfect complement to Ellis’s crisp and simple prose. Ben’s expressions will be recognizable to anyone who knows small boys, whether he’s in fierce pirate mode or despondent not-an-overnighter mode. Readers will enjoy the sly details in the story: teenaged brother Joe likes to dye his hair green with his friends; Ben’s animated face slackens while in front of the tube; Ben and Peter prepare a lot of multi-layered gooey sandwiches, as well as raising the roof with their cardboard percussion band.

My son, who is about Ben’s age, wanted to know why Ben’s parents and siblings were so keen on having him stay the night. Why not let him wait till he’s older? I thought this a legitimate question. Is this book another symptom of our era’s eagerness to make our children grow up too fast? “Ben can be anything at Peter’s house,” runs Ellis’s refrain. My response is “But at night, he prefers his own house.” And surely, for a five-year-old, there’s nothing wrong with that.

 

Reviewer: Philippa Sheppard

Publisher: Fitzhenry &Whiteside

DETAILS

Price: $19.95

Page Count: 32 pp

Format: Cloth

ISBN: 1-55041-807-6

Released: Mar.

Issue Date: 2005-4

Categories: Children and YA Non-fiction, Picture Books

Age Range: 5-7