Caldecott Medal Contender: Stop That Yawn!

by Sam Juliano

Few might realize that about half of adults that yawn do so after seeing another engaging  in the all-too-familiar and reflexive open-mouth inhale.  “Contagious yawning” is now regarded as a universal phenomenon, though news studies have concluded this visible expression of exhaustion is actually no longer linked to variables like lethargy, energy or depleted energy levels.  Yet, yawning persists when one is tired or bored and the act more often than not precedes deep slumber.  A yawn can be insulting when it occurs at a live musical or dramatic performance  or downright rude in a more intimate classroom environment, especially when the yawner doesn’t cover his or her mouth.  Sometimes just as difficult to suppress as a burp, sneeze, cough or unconscious snore, the action makes a statement, one always always unflattering, but sometimes as an instinctive reaction to what a person sees, hears or senses, even in some substantiated instances when someone reads the word in passage or word bubble.  The picture book author Caron Levis has taken this concept to plague-like proportions in the delightfully anarchic Stop That Yawn!, a sometimes uproarious tale about how a single yawn develops into a torrent which once unleashed will similarly affect unsuspecting urban residents, in a manner recalling the spores on the planet Omicron Ceti III in the original Star Trek Season 1 episode “This Side of Paradise”, which induced elation and the poppies that brought on sleep in the field en-route to the Emerald City in The Wizard of Oz.  Never before in literature has a yawn led to such epic proportions, but Caron and her talented artist LeUyen Pham sustain a potent measure of merriment as one after the other fails to properly negotiate the surefire way to curb a yawn, by biting one’s teeth and sealing one’s lips.  Unlike the terrifying ramifications facing those who failed to stay awake in the 1956 film classic Invasion of the Body Snatchers those in the path of the yawn torrent end up with more shut-eye than scheduled, which all things considered in a place where far too many burn the candles at both ends might be a welcome development.

The credo of Stop That Yawn! is nonetheless a mission to stop the yawn from compromising the reputation of a city that never sleeps, one where concerts, carnivals, opera house and eateries among other round-the-clock establishments operate well into the night.  A young African-American girl has had her fill of bedtime, and she attempts to enact a 24-7 much as Elmo did when he wished Christmas would fall on every day of the year, and basically the results are the same.  The metaphorical yawn presented to children as an expanding pestilence rather than an inevitable result of staying up into the wee-hours of the morning has a cumulative effect, one where exposure without exception leads to physical surrender.  Gabby Wild came around to the position that bedtime was a major bore, and a waste of time that would be so much better spent doing exciting and fulfilling things.  Heck, with roughly a third of one’s time in horizontal mode one can hypothetically agree with this spirited girl’s view of the wasted hours invested in do-nothing slumber.  She persuades her Granny to depart their somnolent environs, with the destination a place called Never Sleeping City.  Pajamas, slippers and pillows of course are persona non gratta in this land of an ongoing adrenaline rush, and en-route they work on the art of keeping one’s eyes open.  That’s the basic premise of a picture book that lovingly evokes Maurice Sendak’s Caldecott Honor winner In the Night Kitchen with its bold and colorful cartoon-styled vignettes and word bubbles.  Levis’s illustrator is the enormously gifted LeUyen Pham, whose croquille and India ink on bristol board panels are strikingly colored digitally.

The intrepid duo’s first encounter are with beds which are positioned for bouncing and then an all-night ice cream parlor is depicted in a Times Square-styled city hamlet where Gabby announces from a lofty building perch that her nanny and her plan to party all night. A bevy of humanized animals. a pirate with his parrot and some seemingly inveterate ice cream aficionados gather around festively with even a 24-7 pickle palace in vendor operation.  As the pair glide past a “No Sleeping Inn” where lullabies are ditched in favor of hullabaloo and a makeshift bandstand where sheep are never counted in a place always rocking around the clock, they reach a carnival where they ride a Ferris Wheel.  Because “the stars were blinking” and “the moon looked quiet and peaceful” Nanny is lured into relaxation that causes the older woman to open her mouth wide and wider much to the horror of Gabby who frantically tells her “Granny no, we practiced!  Grit your teeth, seal your lips!  Whatever you do, don’t…..”  But by then there is no longer a way to prevent a big yawn that then gathers force and as it makes its way above and through a massive ocean of people, but Gabby attempts to enact damage control as she dashes around making nice and delivering high fives, simultaneously urging those exposed to granny’s powerful seduction to “Grit your teeth, seal your lips, we have to stop that!”

By now the yawn is no longer controllable as one by one the nocturnal revelers follow suit, despite Gabby’s incessant teeth-gritting, lip-sealing urgings.  In one of Pham’s most fabulous and funniest tapestries, a double page spread of a marching band being engulfed by the reflexive action run amok, Gabby grits her own teeth, steadfastly refusing to succumb.  She dashes off to an opera house, attempting to stem the tide with the assistance of tickliest feathers,  wettest water and the funniest of jokes but by then the die is cast and a Teutonic hippopotamus dressed to the hilt unleashes a gargantuan yawn that leaves once vociferous voices reduced to group yawning, and granny seems amused.  Gabby rings bells, slams doors, and sets off alarms, finally reaching the Never Sleeping Mayor who also falls unconscious in front of the “No Sleep Schedule” ticket window.  With few options remaining Gabby ascends a building level and shines a spotlight but in a marvelous verse Levis reveals that “the picklers wouldn’t pickle,” “the ice cream scoopers wouldn’t scoop,” “the Midnight Marching Band wouldn’t pom-pom-pom” and the kids were rendered inactive.  Horrified with the mass capitulation Gabby too is stripped of her resolve in panels that document her fall.  Gabby snuggles up with Nanny and they both party in their dreams with floating remembrances of their special journey.

Stop That Yawn! is an irresistible and uproarious metaphorical reminder in the most innocuous of terms that there is no way to sidestep the inevitable.  Even so one spirited girl with a big imagination and sturdy resilience can ride the crest of a calming pestilence to a an urban center of endless delights.  Pham’s artistry is sumptuous and nuanced and will invariably leave young readers as exhilarated as they would be at an amusement park.  The book is  a fusion of Levis’ boundless imagination and Pham’s alluring color tones , creation of a surreal, dreamy environment and unbridled emotions in the comic illustrative style are as contagious and its subject.  The Caldecott committee should have this front and center.

Author Caron Levis

Artist LeUyen Pham

Note:  This is the tenth entry in the 2018 Caldecott Medal Contender series.  The annual venture does not purport to predict what the committee will choose, rather it attempts to gauge what the writer feels should be in the running.  In most instances the books that are featured in the series have been touted as contenders in various online round-ups, but for the ones that are not, the inclusions are a humble plea to the committee for consideration.  It is anticipated the series will include in the neighborhood of around 25 titles; the order which they are being presented in is arbitrary, as every book in this series is a contender.  Some of my top favorites of the lot will be done near the end.  The awards will be announced in late January, hence the reviews will continue until around the middle of that month.